7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Dear Lord Jesus, to have you plus nothing, makes us as rich as anybody in the history of the universe. To have you plus everything wouldn’t make us any richer than he who has you alone. You are the treasure all other currencies mimic and counterfeit. Nothing compares to the excellency of knowing you and being loved by you.
You inhabit our weakness like a Rembrandt painting in a picture frame of straw; or like the Hope Diamond mounted in a necklace of tin foil and Scotch Tape. You get all the attention and honor, and we get the supreme privilege of simply being used of you. Just as it should be, and just as we want it to be.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Unlike Paul, I haven’t been in a season of persecution, but I do relate to his images of being hard pressed and perplexed. The stories, demands, and emotional expenditure of the past weeks have taxed my limits and driven me to you—which is a good thing. In all of it, I’ve been keenly aware of your presence, shocked at the strength you’ve given me, and thankful for what I see you doing. I’m trusting you for the same today, as I stare a long “to love list” in the face. Help me to listen from the heart, and love to your glory, all day long.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Jesus, I am fine—actually very happy to do life accepting my limits and boasting in my weaknesses, as long as your life is revealed in me and through me. I don’t feel the need to be as competent as many of my gifted friends; but I do want to finish my life as a conduit of your beauty and love, mercy and grace. May it be so. So very Amen I pray, in your tender and triumphant name.
