THE COOKIE JAR…“…As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”

Growing up we had a cookie jar that sat on the top of our refrigerator.  This jar was a ceramic bear with a big tummy and a face of contentment. He looked like a happy bear in a patch of grass while sitting next to his favorite honeycomb. 

Over the years, that cookie jar got knocked around. The constant lifting of that lid and the filling of the jar caused bumps and bruises on the bears body. As we would rub our hand over his plump belly, we could feel the cracks. But no matter how cracked our cookie jar was, it always held the sweet treats that we loved as children.

Throughout scripture it talks about “cookie jars.” These jars, too, are filled with cracks and chips just like my childhood cookie jar. In the Bible, these jars are referred to as jars of clay.  The scripture refers to these jars as a representation of our lives.   Clay jars are made from a potter, a creator. 

In Jeremiah 18:6 it says,

“…As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”

As the potter throws the lump of clay onto the potter’s wheel, a creation begins to form.  As the wheel turns, the hands of the potter touch the clay. The pressure from his fingers forms the uniqueness of this jar.  He has the power to make the jar as wide or as tall as he desires.  If he is not pleased with his creation, he can take the clay as it remains soft and form a different design.  But once the jar dries, that jar becomes permanently formed.  There are no more changes.  You can paint the outside of it with various designs, but the integrity of the design will always be there.

When the finished jar comes off the potter’s wheel, he sets it on a drying rack. Once it is finished, it is a beautiful flawless design ready for onlookers to admire or for a shopper to purchase.

Throughout the life of that jar it will accrue cracks and chips within the jar.  Overtime the cracks and chips will compromise the integrity of the jar making it impossible to hold water.   But because it is our favorite jar, we will continue to use it finding other purposes for it.

II Corinthians 4:7

          “…, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars.”

Throughout the life of our jars we become fragile and broken. So, what do we do with a fragile jar?   

It is broken and useless. 

It is ugly and worn. 

II Corinthians 4:6,7 NLT

⁶  For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”

…but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure…

But what treasure can come from a broken jar?

As we look at our broken jar, we gently pick it up knowing that the only hope we have is to take it to the Potter’s house. Once we reach the door of the Potter’s house, we knock and await in great anticipation that he will be able to fix our broken and cracked jar.  As he opens the door, he sees the sadness on our face and graciously invites us in.  We explain to him that we need our jar mended. He smiles with such an expression of grace and hope.  He takes a closer look at the weathered jar and begins to ask some questions.  While we sit at his old wooden work table, he notices a small crack in the clay at the base of the jar.  He asks us what caused that small crack.  We tell him that was from a time when we picked it up and it slipped out of our hands cracking on the road.  Then he turns the jar and sees a larger crack.  This crack is so large that he can see through to the inside of the jar. He smiles at us waiting for the story. We tell him how we had gotten angry. Someone had said some hurtful things to us, and it made us angry. So, in our anger, we knocked it over onto the floor.  When it fell, a large crack appeared on the outside of the jar.  As we tell him story after story of how those cracks appeared in our jar, he confirms our fear that our jar will no longer be used to hold water. The cracks were too large penetrating completely through to the inside of the jar.  The original purpose to hold water was gone. With sadness in our face, we ask him if we need to throw it into the fire and purchase a new jar. He looks at us so graciously and says, “Stay seated. I will be back. I want to show you something that I think might help.”  He picks up our jar and walks over to his cabinet. His back is towards us, so we can’t see as he works. With his back still towards us, he proceeds to turn off the lights.  The darkness is thick as we sit patiently at the table. As he turns toward us holding our jar in his hands, we notice something beautiful.  Our jar is glowing as a beautiful light. The candles that he had placed inside our jar allows light to shine through the brokenness. We sit in amazement.  

Our clay jar may no longer be able to hold water, but it now holds something more beautiful.  It holds light.  If we had covered up those cracks in attempts to repair our jar, we would have never seen the beauty that it held within.

God takes us as fragile clay jars; as cracked and chipped cookie jars; and places an amazing treasure inside. 

He lifts the lid of our hearts and pours in the treasure of His light.

“This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” Vs. 7

We shine…

 because He shines!

God chose the broken and bruised…

the chipped and the cracked to put the amazing light of His glory inside.

If we let the light of the face of Jesus shine in our jars,

our broken jar will become a beautiful jar.

As we tell the story of our brokenness, we tell the story of His Light.

And the wider the crack, the brighter the light!