“O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6)
Before the Lord, and all His resources, were available to us, we did the best we knew how to navigate the waters of our lives. But our best was not good enough. The wounds we received did not heal properly. We became marred, damaged, embittered and enraged by a life we didn’t ask for. We sought compensation for the raw deal we got. Others wronged us, so we justified our wronging of others. We became the very thing we hated.
We all have been shaped by our responses to what we have gone through. When God takes possession of us He seeks to remake us after His image. The wrongly fashioned heart must be broken and replaced by the heart that was in Christ. Opportunities still present themselves for us to respond wrongly, but if Christ is in our heart, His ways can be formed in us. We no longer need be overcome by the evil of others, we can overcome evil with good. We no longer have to be evil, we can respond to every hard thing in our life with the meekness and goodness of Jesus.
The world will not suddenly become beautiful. Injustice and oppression will not go away until Christ returns to establish His kingdom on the earth. But He now reigns in the hearts of those who have made Him their Lord and Savior. And He is making vessels of honor and glory and beauty where His kingdom has come and His will is being done.