He Gives Us His Very Own All-Surpassing Power
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us…knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence… So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
The ‘jars of clay’ metaphor is a popular one. Popular Christian gifts and art are full of it. The problem is, it seems to focus too much on the clay jars and not what it says is inside of them.
IT’S THE ALL-SURPASSING POWER OF GOD!
The clay pots are so that we stay humble because nobody with superpowers would become a hero in real life. It’s too easy to use our powers to be the villain. You know you would be, eventually.
So clay pots.
But all-surpassing power!
It’s invisible and you can only see (or sometimes simply know) the effects of what that power can do.
But honestly, isn’t that how God works most of the time? You can’t see forgiveness, but you can receive it. You can’t see generosity, but you can see it in action. Some think that whenever we get a big enough telescope, we’ll be able to see creation, but I don’t know about that.
God sees things in a way beyond our understanding. It’s not like Superman trying to focus through a coat, shirt, no, not under your skin or into your blood cells, but there, yes, the bad guy has a gun. God doesn’t even see with eyes or vision, if you think about it.
God sees the eternal things as they are right now and forever. He sees you just as you’ll be when you’re fully transformed and seated in heavenly places. (That’s how Ephesians 2 can talk about us “seated in the heavenlies” in past/present tense!)
And so, we worship Him. Because Jesus took away our sins and rose from the dead, we worship Him boldly. There is nothing we can hide from Him, and yet He still saves. There is nothing we have to tell Him that He doesn’t know, and He still listens to us. He is preparing us while loving us for that eternal weight of glory. That weight of glory that is bigger than anything we’ll ever have to carry or be burdened with down here where we think we see things.
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