But we have this treasure in jars of  clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.                                                                                2 Corinthians 4:7

There is an incredible variety in types of containers for everyday use available to us. We have glasses and mugs to drink out of. These can be made of glass, plastic, styrofoam, stone, ceramic or even paper. There are containers to store food from plastic Tupperware to old fashioned glass jars. 

In the era of my grandmothers, the variety was not so great. Our proper "city" grandmother had crystal goblets, with matching plates, in which to serve refreshments to the ladies in her canasta group. On special occasions, she made us coke floats in tall, thin everyday glasses. I have no memory of how left-overs were stored. Maybe this was done on the sly, for appearance's sake.

Our warm, loving "country" grandmother had glasses to drink out of, but for storage of items and especially for canning fruits and vegetables, she used glass jars. (The family name is Ball, and I was an adult before I realized that every family didn't have their name etched on the side of their canning jars!) They were the standard jars, either pint or quart sized, depending on what was to be put into the jar. She would carry the steaming-hot liquid to-be-jelly and pour it into the pint jars on the kitchen table. Larger vegetables, usually cucumbers selected to be transformed into pickles, needed the larger jar.

There is one thing that all these containers had in common. What was really important was what was on the inside of the container.

The lovely etched crystal glasses of our grandmother would never have impressed the ladies with their hats and white gloves, if we had sneaked outside where Jessie the gardener was digging and filled them with mud. (I shudder to think what the consequences of this act would have been!). They were lovely, delicate glasses, but unless filled with well- blended lemonade or the ever-popular drink of their girlhood in the 1890's, ginger ale, they would not have been so beautiful.

Granny's canning jars were plain glass with no frills. There was nothing impressive about them on the outside. When filled with sweet, sticky muskedine jelly, however, they became holders of great treasure.

We humans are all just jars. Some of us look really good on the outside. Some of us look rather plain. The important thing is what is on the inside. There's a lot of dirt and sludge inside us, until we find a source that can make us new inside. Jesus Christ does just that. He fills us with treasure, His treasure of the secret to living life to the full and never stopping!

As the verse at the beginning of this blog says, we are carring His treasure, but in jars of clay. In ancient timea, most everything was put into clay vessels, from olive oil to be shipped to foreign ports, to wine that was drunk by an individual. The disadvantage that what was inside was unseen. Clay is hardly transparent. Treasure or trash, it was hard to tell from the outside.

We are followers of Jesus Christ with a treasure within that can't be seen. What needs to be done to show that treasure others, which is the natural reaction to having something incredibly valuable.

One way is that this treasure can be poured out. You scream, "I can't do that! I'll lose it! It'll be wasted!" But God's economy is not the same as our economy. The last will be first and the first will be last. (Matthew 10:31) The more we give out, the more of Him we have. The goal is not to keep or accumulate, but to get to know God more and to share more of who He is. The more that is poured out,the more joy.

Jesus set the example for us when He loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2) We receive the most satisfaction when we do the same. The way to the ultimate meaning in life is to know Him and to give up all to Him. Again, the economy of God is one of receiving by letting go.

The other way to find out the contents of a clay jar was to break the jar. By being broken we can share the treasure with them most people. God is incharge of how we are broken and by what, but He also promises never to leave us. He weeps with us and holds us up. He becomes our strength and gives us His power. He gives us comfort far beyond what we could ever have experienced, had we never been broken.

He is there, holding us, entrusting us with His treasure. He can be trusted. He showed His love by giving everything ...for us.