2006 by Martin Zender
Paperback. 80 pages, 20 illustrations.

Think your sins are ruining God's plans for your life? Think again.

We are clay pots by design, not because we have gone afoul of God's intention for us. Wouldn't some of us love to shed our earthenware now and still walk among mortals? Our sins keep us from a perfect walk, and we mourn this. We do not yet understand, of course, that an imperfect walk is the main idea of this life. God puts the treasure of his spirit in earthen vessels now to keep the vessels from situating themselves upon high places. Humility is a blessed thing. Mistakes remind us of our clayhood and drive us toward Christ.

When we finally quit chasing perfection and accept these bodies of humiliation, we will become happier. Because, really, how can you be happy and kicking yourself at the same time?

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 EXCERPTS

Frustrated with your failures? Feeling condemned? Can’t overcome a bad habit? I’ve got great news for you: "Now we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the transcendence of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Your humble little vessel of sin is made that way on purpose. We are clay pots by design, not because we have gone afoul of God’s intention for us. Let this revelation soothe the exhausted self-improver. Retire, Christian soldier. You fail by design, not because you are a failure. God wants you cognizant of the source of your power, and He has many creative ways of driving this home. One of these is sin.

Wouldn’t some of us love to shed our earthenware now and still walk among mortals? Our sins keep us from producing a perfect walk, and we mourn this. What we do not understand is that an imperfect walk is the main idea of this life. God puts the treasure of His spirit in earthen vessels now to keep the vessels from situating themselves upon high places.

Thank God for the comfort of mistakes. Mistakes remind us of our clayhood and drive us toward Christ. When we finally quit chasing perfection and accept these vessels of clay, we will become happier. When we forget about ourselves, peace will ensue. The happy acceptance of imperfection is the beginning of easy breathing. Because, really, how can you be peaceful and kicking yourself at the same time?

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Deliverance ministries think they’re doing you a favor by trying to pray, pray, pray you out of your trials. These ministries thrive on you wanting a problem-free life. "I want the answer to my problem," is the pitch today that keeps these ministries at bat. I thank God for their track record of failure. What the poor seeker does not realize is that the problem is the answer, and that shedding the problem before its time would be disastrous.

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God is always making matters humanly impossible first, so He can set up what He is going to do later. It’s the same reason you’re a sinner now. Why not just make you perfect and skip this humiliating sin part? It’s simple, really. It’s because you won’t be able to enjoy perfection later unless you’ve been a sinner now. Everyone wants to be happy in heaven. That’s normal. But then everyone wants to curse sin down here. What these folks don’t realize is that their happiness there depends on their misery here. The joy of perfection rests on the misery of missing the earthly mark. So really, God isn’t doing this sin thing to you, He’s doing it for you. This imperfect life of yours is a backhanded favor.

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Think of scriptural exhortation as a matting inside of which God intends to paint a masterpiece. These exhortations are God giving Himself an opportunity to show the world what He can do through you. What a difference between that and you getting an opportunity to show to the world what you can do for God. If you’ve still got religious bones in your body, what I just said will deflate you. But when the spirit touches this thing, you’ll become thrilled. Because how good will it feel to finally realize that you’re not supposed to live like Jesus, but rather, that Jesus is supposed to live His life through you? What a difference.