"Master Potter"

 "When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind with the clay," (John 9:6 KJV)

  ""I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, 'I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me - gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also but white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference."" (Revelation 3:15-19 NLT) 

 Finally, a chance to explore some of the little secrets of being poor, blind, and naked! Jesus really didn't need to heal this blind man's eyes with mud. He could have just said, "Be healed," and that would have done the trick! So what is the lesson that He is putting across for us to realize? 

 Probably the greatest issue we face in our walk with the Lord, is the threat of confidence in our own abilities to stay standing! As soon as we think we have our lives under control, have a handle on the sins that usually knock us down, or can feel confident that our marriage is fortified and unbreakable: Wham Bam! On your own! 

 Yes, Jesus is the Master Potter! He makes beautiful things from clay, some for holding and displaying beauty, and some for holding ashes! Which one of those would make your day? I really appreciate the way the NLT translated this portion of Scripture, because it's putting the light on the repentance, as if to show exactly what the problem really is: indifference! 

 Having a business and giving instruction to workers, you can pretty much understand what that actual means. You say, "Do this as I say," and then, they listen to what you say, but then do what you said in their own way. It's really not that they don't want to obey or think that they maybe know more than you; it is really just a very minor indifference in understanding part of your instructions. 

 Seriously! If you are off just one step, to the right or to the left, the length of your walk can get way off course! I love the way Matthew Henry sums this up: "The way prescribed for getting spiritual wisdom is, Let a man become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Corinthians 3:18. We must be made uneasy with our blindness, as this man here, and then healed."  

 Maybe it is best to just remain broken...

"So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life - that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because on my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." (Romans 7:14-25 NLT)