1 Thessalonians 3:12 - The Potter's Vessel

1 Thessalonians 3:12 "May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow more and more and become as great as our love for you." (TEV)

The Lord doesn't make mistakes; I do.

The other night I was thinking about how my life would have been if I had listened better to the voice of my Master while I was living it early on.

I wouldn't have run nearly as many side trails...........I would have understood why having the Lord near is much better than all the things that grabbed my attention and pulled me in one direction or the other.

If I had listened to Him, I would have seen a more balanced look at the people who crossed my path in life..........I wouldn't have been nearly as quick to dismiss a person but would have instead spent a great deal of time praying and then trying to understand why the Lord let that person's path cross mine.

I have become convinced as I grow closer to the Lord that there are no coincidences in my life........each moment is there for a purpose, and that purpose directly relates to my walk with Jesus.

The scripture above caught my attention tonight because it caused me to reflect on how the Lord works in my life. The Lord is the catalyst for all things...........after all, He did spend time specifically on the various elements of creation when He could have just as easily willed those things into existence all at once. But He didn't. He, instead, paid meticulous attention.....to details........to everything He created.............no mistakes........no accidents.

And that includes the love we have for each other as Christians. He is the catalyst for the love we have for one another that He has placed within each one of us. He causes it to grow if we add to it our labor and commitment. And if we nurture this love correctly it grows beyond us................and reaches out into the darkness of this world to those in it like a beacon ..........and people are drawn to it.........because they sense in this love the outstretched Hands of the Lord.

It is the Lord who grows this love that makes me want to reach out to all people with the message He wants to send to others. I have become convinced that when I give myself over to Him in my relationship with Him, He uses me in ways I could never conceive of. I become a vessel fashioned with His Hands to do His Work.

Jeremiah 18:1-6 "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I shall announce My words to you." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. (NASB)

Love in Jesus,

Jim

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"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." (1 Corinthians 12:18 NASB)

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."

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This devotional was originally posted on CCI-Devo - Daily Group Devotionals on December 20, 2003 in post #434. It was written by Jim Ross, a former United Pentecostal Church member, who attends Christian Challenge International, the sponsor of the devotional group. The devotional is the copyright of Jim Ross and is reprinted on this site by permission.

Page added April 17, 2006

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