To recap… Wednesday we talked about jars of clay which was good imagery but really there is so much more to this passage that I am excited to get in to. So take a second and re-read our passage:

II Corinthians 4:7-18 (The Message)

^7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at.

We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!

 ^13-15We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

 ^16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Verse 8-9 in the NIV reads: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” I want to pick-up there and may get through verse 12 today… it just depends on how fast I can get my “bird” fingers to peck the keys.  (Wow that was a lame start… I apologize)

The crazy thing about being pressed is that you never know just how much you can take before you are crushed, or how far can you be thrown down without breaking.  I know that when testing the strength of concrete they find the amount of pressure it takes to break it and the only way to do it is to actually break it. I am sure that there are certain scientific tests that could calculate our bone density and come close to calculating what it would take to crush us. But, the only way to really tell is to actually crush it.

Stay with me because I am not talking about some sick desire to put people in a press or start dropping people off of buildings. Today I was reading a little later in II Corinthians (11:24-27) where Paul was describing the methods in which the world had pressed and dropped him.

“²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (NIV)

To be honest… that sounds pretty brutal and way beyond what I would consider a legit breaking point. I don’t know about you but I don’t know if I could cut it. I am sure that Paul may have had that same thought at times but yet he did cut it. He may have passed what he thought was his breaking point many times.

Only God knows are breaking point and when we trust him that point seems to move. (I am really struggling to get the feeling that I have in my heart into rational words with some sense of proper grammar so bear with me.)  The challenges that you and I face seem overwhelming at times but it is the journey of going through them that proves time and time again that what we thought would break us only makes us stronger.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow death”… the key is to keep walking. The only way to get out is to keep walking. I know the scriptures about standing still and knowing that he is God. But I’m sorry, I am a mover. I think we want to set back and let God do and sometimes he just wants us to see what we are capable of when we allow him to work through us in lieu of for us.

In verse 12 it reads “While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!” What a seemingly bipolar scripture but there it is again… going through. We are on a journey that is more than getting from point “A” to point “B”. The end is important but the world needs to see and hear more out of us than just about the end.

I am going out on a limb here and going to say that my life is not perfect, actually quite far from it. I have a lot of positive things going for me but in many areas I feel pressed, thrown down and perplexed. This passage has reminded me to go through.

The real motivation of this portion of this passage can be found in verse 10 “…what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives!” He lives in us? He lives in us. He lives in us! HE LIVES IN US! HE LIVES IN US!!!! Yes the God that the world left for dead, the God that experienced all brokenness, all abandonment, lives in us. Maybe you have allowed yourself to forget that. Well wake up and grab a hold of that fact because he overcame all for you.

You may feel pressed, you may feel perplexed, you may feel dropped but that God who beat all odds lives in us and will remain with us as long as we let him.

God, thank you for living in me and reminding me that I have not reached my breaking point. Like Paul there have been times were I felt like it but you enabled me to stretch far beyond my believed breaking points. You have not abandoned me but it is imperative that I keep going. The feelings I have are a part of a journey that will ultimately bring you glory. Even though I may not know how or even see what ways, I know that you have me and my family’s best interest at heart. I am unsure why our lives seem to be in a holding pattern but I am trusting that you are preparing our landing site. It would be easy to get tired of circling the field and land in the wrong place. I pray that you will continue to provide me reminders like this to keep going. Amen.