Children can be molded by their environment, teaching, and discipline. If we teach them good life skills at a young age, we set them up for success later in life. Yet, if they turn away from the good life skills they were taught, calamity can befall them. They are much more open to learn when they are young.
How pliable are you? Are you open to learn something new? Are you open to changing your ways for the good? Will you learn good life skills to be successful? Unfortunately, far too many of us are not. We are comfortable where we are at, even if it is lying in a ditch.
God compares Israel to clay in a potter’s hands and God is the potter. He says that he can do what he wants with Israel. If Israel obeys God, he will bless them and make them successful. If they disobey, he will bring calamity on them, just as the potter flattens the clay if the mold he was making isn’t going as planned.
What we need to remember is that God can do the same to us. Not that he is holding a hammer over our heads. Quite the contrary. God is extremely patient. Yet, if we continually discard his guidance, he will eventually discard us. It is not something God wants to do any more than we want it. Knowing that God could discard us, why would we continue to tempt him? The simple answer? We’re human and have our own fleshly desires.
What can we do to follow God? We need to go back to those principles for being taught good life skills — seek a good environment, seek a good teacher (Jesus), and discipline ourselves. If we are willing to change and put in the effort, God is willing to invest in us and bless us.
I pray we all are willing to change for the good. I pray we seek to learn from Jesus. I pray each one of us will commit to discipline ourselves and allow God to mold into the person he wants us to be. Be willing to change. Learn from Jesus. Commit yourself to God. Allow him to mold you.
Jeremiah 18:5-6 Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
Marty Pressey 