Earthen Vessels...The Exceeding Power of Greatness

As the old year ends and a new one begins I am reading: The Acts of the Apostles, The Martyr's Mirror, The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, A History of Christianity, and a rather scattered collection of works on the church. Do you know what I have discovered, not only in my reading, but more particularly in my own life? "NO one has yet fully attained to the high calling of God in Christ. We, as individuals and a churches, are by no means identical with Augustine's City of God. There is yet much of the earthly city within our very beings. Yet, in us, and in our churches, there is a power at work, which in the midst of what at times appears to be chaotic frustration, apparently hopelessly marred and twisted, which is achieving the impossible, the re-creation of men and women until we have displayed something of the quality of life which we have found in Jesus Christ. "God's message continues, in the face of opposition, both from within and without, to spread, and those who are chosen to have life forever, believe the message" (Acts 12:24; 13:48-49). "We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the power is from God, not from us. We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. We carry the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. We are alive..." (11 Cor. 4:7-11a).