In 2 Corinthians 4:7 we hear: “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
Just as the clay jar’s basic purpose was to hold water, a life necessity, we, too, carry “Emmanuel, God with us” in our hearts and souls for a purpose: to spread the Good News and share God’s love.
In my first reading of this verse, the phrase this treasure caught my attention. The word treasure—singular; not treasures. This treasure is the Good News. One reference from the NIV Study Bible notes that “it was customary to conceal treasures in clay jars, which had little value or beauty and did not attract attention to themselves and their precious contents.” God uses us, ordinary and unassuming—the clay jars of life—to accomplish God’s plans!
May we share the treasure from our jar of clay. May we share God’s message of Good News.
This message is excerpted from “God uses the ordinary, the unassuming” by Ann Hanley in the May 18, 2017, blog of the Women of the ELCA.
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