HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2013 / WINTER / EDITORIAL
W I N T E R • 2 0 1 3
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 4
D E P A R T M E N T S
Editor's COMMENTS
Trusting the
One of my meaningful possessions is a pottery vase one of my colleagues made for me around 1980 when I was teaching at Gem State Academy in Idaho. Frank was the choral director at the school, but he was also an expert potter. Watching Frank work his potter’s wheel was my first experience seeing clay turned into vessels of art.
Dressed in a clay-colored smock, Frank would take lumps of wet mud and set them on his wheel. As his foot controlled the speed of the turning, his hands expertly shaped pots of all shapes and sizes from the unformed earth: vases with tall, thin necks and perfectly formed lips; wide jars scribed with lines carved by Frank’s fingernail as the pots spun on the wheel; small flowerpots and cups. Sometimes the emerging vessel warped; when that happened, Frank would squeeze the clay back into a shapeless lump and begin again.
When Frank finished shaping a pot, however, he was not done with it. To me, the vases seemed almost miraculous as they came off the wheel; where there had been only mud, suddenly there were art pieces of perfect symmetry and grace. To the potter, however, they were new pots that still needed maturing. Left alone, those vessels would eventually disintegrate back into dust, and their beauty would be lost.
At this point Frank began the process of perfecting his pots. He gently transferred the dried vases to a kiln where he subjected them to heat that rose gradually to over 1700 °F. During this process the clay changed. Organic materials trapped in it burned out; any trace of moisture evaporated, and the clay itself was sintered—its molecules began to stick together. Surprisingly, the vessels were still far from complete. Although their clay had become much harder, they were still not vitrified, or heated to the stage where the molecules began to melt together and harden into an enduring stone-like substance, impervious to water and resistant to breakage. Nevertheless, the sintered pots were ready for a transformation that would uniquely mark them; they were matured enough to receive a glaze.
The potter then prepared mixtures of minerals and, with expert strokes, brushed color over the sides of the vases and delicately painted unique designs that characterized the individual pieces These now-lovely creations, however, were still not complete. They went back into the kiln for their glaze firing, this time to be transformed in temperatures ranging from about 2000°–2530 °F. In this intense heat, the clay became fused together—vitrified—and the glaze was cured.
When the heat-stressed pots finally cooled from this final firing, the potter’s work was done. The finished pieces were perfected into enduring ceramic vessels that would withstand water, heat, cold, and hard knocks without losing any of their unique beauty. Their natures had been transformed below the visible surface.
When I look at the vase Frank fashioned for me, I realize that he designed, formed, and finished it himself. It bears his creative mark, and his signature is engraved in its base. Significantly, the vessel did nothing to help Frank perfect it into a mature pot. It simply yielded to the potter’s hands.
In this issue we examine how the Lord Jesus not only brings us to new life but also sanctifies us—all without any help from us. To be sure, He prepares us for serving Him, but our response to Him is the result of His work in us, not the cause of it.
In our featured articles, Martin Carey discusses the role of spiritual disciplines, Rick Barker explains that we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit and not works of law, and Dale Ratzlaff describes what it means to live as new covenant born-again believers. Lisa Winn shares her faith story, and Carolyn Macomber, Rick Barker, and Chris Lee contribute their regular columns.
We pray that you will grow to trust the Potter’s hands as he holds and shapes you for His glory. †
Copyright 2014 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Camp Verde, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised March 5, 2014. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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