Many years ago a rich man had a servant whose job it was to carry water each day from a distant stream to his master’s house.

The servant carried the water in two pots, each of which hung from opposite ends of a pole he carried across his neck.  One pot was in perfect condition and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream. The other pot had a crack in it and always arrived at the master’s house half full, which means for two years the servant delivered only one and a half pots of water to his master’s house each day.

The undamaged pot was proud of itself.  It had been made to carry water without leaking and it did the job perfectly. The cracked pot, on the other hand, felt ashamed. It was miserable knowing it was not able to accomplish what it had been made to do. Still it did the best it could, even if it was only half of what the perfect pot could do.

Finally the cracked pot spoke to the servant. “I need to apologize to you,” the pot said, “For two years now, I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to our master’s house. Because of my flaws you have to do all of this work and you don’t get full value for your efforts.”  The servant simply said, “When we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

As they made their way back to the house, the cracked pot saw the gorgeous wildflowers beside the path and was cheered by their beauty. When they reached the house, the servant said to the cracked pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path? I’ve always known about your flaw and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day when we walked back from the stream, you watered them. For two years I’ve been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. If you weren’t just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

If you have ever felt like this cracked pot—if you’ve ever thought that because of your flaws you were limited in the way God could use you—then remember two things.

THING #1 – God doesn’t make junk. He intentionally made you unique. As it says in Ephesians 2:10, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

THING #2 – In God’s great economy nothing goes to waste. If we allow Him our Lord will use our flaws to “grace His table.” God knows our flaws and can use them for our good and His glory. Remember, God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect will. This is why Paul wrote, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness….for God’s power is made perfect in weakness.” (2^nd Corinthians 11:30; 12:9)

Keep the SON in your eyes!

One of the consequences of living in this busy, fast-paced county of ours is the fact that it affects our memory.  From time to time our mind gets a bit overloaded, and in the process we forget things like, where we put our keys or an appointment we made with a friend or someone’s birthday. This can be very annoying—both for us—and for the victims of our forgetfulness.

This week I read about a woman who has the opposite problem. Her name is Jill Price, and her memory has been the subject of scientific tests for many years, because she never forgets anything. She is able to remember every detail of every day since 1980: What time she got up, what she did, who she met, and what she ate. You can name a date and within seconds she can

tell you what day of the week it was and what took place on that day. Neuroscientists are intrigued by her “condition,” but Ms. Price considers it a curse. She says, “Some memories are good and give me a warm safe feeling. But I also recall every bad decision, insult, and excruciating embarrassment. Over the years it has eaten me up.” She blames her perfect memory for many years of depression.

I’ve heard of people who are blessed with photographic memories who say they have had to learn “selective recall.” Otherwise, they face similar problems. They make the choice to NOT remember every little thing about every single day. If Ms. Price could do the same thing, I’m sure she would.

I am thankful that when it comes to confessed sins, our omniscient Heavenly Father makes this choice. Over and over in His Word God promises to remove our sins from His memory. Here are a few examples:

Isaiah 43:25 “I am He Who blots out your transgressions and remembers them no more.”

Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.”

Micah 7:19 “I will trample [your sin] under foot and throw it into the deepest part of the sea.”

Isaiah 38:17 “I have put all your sins behind My back.” (My paraphrase)

It is good that God does this because, as He says in Isaiah 57:16, “If I kept throwing up in your face your past failures—if I chose to retain an angry disposition toward you because of your sin, your spirit within you would grow faint before Me. You would wither up and die.”

As Christians we need to learn to do this with each other—we must learn to forgive AND forget. Otherwise relationships will “wither up and die.” We all sin—we all mess up—so we all need friends who will come alongside to forgive, help us learn from our mistakes, and then move forward. There is a very real sense in which forgetfulness is part of what it means to be grace-driven.

Keep the SON in your eyes!

Recently, Sue and I watched a powerful movie: Of Gods and Men. It’s the true story of a group of Trappist monks living in the hills outside Algiers in the late 1990′s who are persecuted—and eventually killed—by Muslim terrorists.

This small group of monks have important ministry in their little town. They run the only medical clinic in the area and serve as a Christian “outpost” in a very remote region. Over the years, their lifestyle and grace have given these men a platform to share the love of God in the midst of a Muslim nation.

As the threat of attack by Muslim extremists grows, their fear level does as well. The monks begin to debate whether or not they should remain and continue to minister to the people even though doing so might lead to their martyrdom. They eventually decide to stay and continue to boldly, gently serve the people around them in Jesus’ name, drawing strength and encouragement from a very powerful source: Christian fellowship. As they worship and work and pray with each other, they begin to experience a powerful peace that passes all understanding.

We experience that same kind of strength-giving fellowship whenever we gather at Redland. I think this is part of what made our hurricane-Sunday worship so sweet last week. We cherish being together, because experience has taught us that we draw courage amidst the storms of life by gathering to worship God, study His Word, and share testimony of His goodness in our own lives. In this way we “…encourage one another to love and do good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24)

One of the most difficult aspects of following Jesus in our fallen culture is personal evangelism. Many of us often find ourselves lacking in courage or wisdom when it comes to this particular spiritual mandate. On our own we feel inadequate and fearful, so many times we ignore this aspect of the Christian walk altogether.

This is why we periodically gather at Redland for what we refer to as an Outreach Network meeting. Our next one is scheduled for September 18 after the 11AM service. I hope you’ll plan on attending. I promise—you will not be put on the spot. You won’t be made to feel guilty for your lack of success when it comes to your part of the Great Commission. We’ll simply share a good meal, hear testimonies from any who want to share about their own attempts to share the Gospel, and then pray for individuals we know are not Christ-followers.

I think you’ll be surprised at how much this kind of Christian gathering will help you be bolder in sharing your faith with people in your realm of influence who do not know Jesus personally.

Keep the SON in your eyes!