But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
This passage is a paradox, and a magnificent, Christ-exalting one. God chooses to use common pottery and not reinforced chests to store His treasure, because in doing so He is glorified. God chooses to use our weaknesses and insufficiency because in doing so He is shown to be ever more wonderful. It is unremarkable when smart, capable people achieve great things in their own might. Yet, when great things are accomplished by frail men we know that God alone must be at work.
So this is why Paul willingly describes how he and other early Christian leaders are beaten, worn down and suffer to spread the Gospel. He acknowledges their weaknesses, as fragile, common "jars of clay", because this brings out, all the more, the wonder of the treasure they contain: the death and life of Jesus. In following Jesus' example of death, they willingly suffer. And in knowing that they have eternal life in Jesus, they can rejoice.
I pray that I will always live as a "jar of clay": humble, unremarkable and brittle, perhaps, but always bearing witness to the treasure and its "surpassing power" that God has put within me.
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