“Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.” Here, believers are likened to clay vessels, fragile yet filled with the treasure of the Gospel.” 

2 Corinthians 4:7

What motivates you? Does money drive you? Power, or popularity? 

As the city gradually lulled itself into a slow repose, the restless energy of its inhabitants surged. Palm trees swayed along hypochondriacs in their $ 200 Alo Yoga workout sets, making their way to their local organic grocery store ‘Erewhon’ (yes, the one that charges $ 27 for a bottle of water). From the self-imposed pedestal of my moral superiority, I judged them, all the while in quiet denial of the truth—I was just like them. True, I wasn’t cruising Rodeo Drive with my tech billionaire husband, but deep down, I harboured the same selfish ambitions and desires.

During my family vacation, I awoke at 3 a.m. each day, gripped by anxiety about my future, obsessing over what the next steps in my career might look like. Where does God want to take me in my career? Am I refining or declining? (I was declining). This gnawing unease, a feeling of powerlessness, manifested in a draconian diet and exercise regime. I used jet lag as an excuse to leave my family behind and retreat to the gym at four in the morning for hours of overexertion. At least, in my sleep-deprived state, I lacked the appetite to feel the physical hunger or fullness. My body had no energy to signal its needs—it was driven solely by adrenaline. It was when I returned to my London apartment that I realised my body was fighting to survive. The law of gravity says that what must come up must come down. You burn out. You ‘lose’ control because your body fights to retain every ounce of nutrition you place in it. 

2 Kings 4 talks about the story of the widow with the jar of oil. Her deceased husband’s creditors were coming to take her two sons to be her slaves. The prophet Elisha instructs her to borrow vessels from everywhere, including her neighbours ( ‘… empty vessels; do not gather just a few’), and to shut the door behind her and her sons to pour into those vessels. Miraculously, the oil continued to flow until no more vessels were filled. Elisha instructed her to sell the oil to pay her debts, using the remainder to sustain her family. The initial jar was small and intended for anointing oil, so the oil had to be poured out and refilled supernaturally. You might assume it was a simple filling of vessels, but it wasn’t. The vessels had to be prepared, arranged, and positioned correctly. The more profound principle here is that the volume of human effort combined with divine intervention determines the extent of blessings and provisions received.  Elisha made her do this. He could’ve done this without her, but he understood that she needed to trust God personally.

There is a difference between wishing and willing. Wishing is a different posture of mind, as the former gets nothing done, thereby getting nothing, and the latter gets everything, including God and all He can bring (Maclaren). This raises the question: why, during the harsh cold of winter, do so many wrestle with a heightened sense of existential uncertainty, wondering what their life’s purpose truly is?  We know we have a mission on earth, but why isn’t God specifically showing me what to do next? He hasn’t given me any direction on anything tangible, anything within plain sight. In the same way, God is hiding or perhaps shutting doors, He reveals or opens them according to His will. Why? You see with your human eyes; your limited perceptions then limit God. You flip pages of the Bible in the morning and head off without a second thought of presenting yourself to Him each part of your day to the best of your ability. You read an encouraging verse and feel good about yourself. There is no conviction. When there is no conviction, there is no shift. When there is no oil, there is no heat, no fire. Does God have a place in your lifestyle beyond the mere 1-hour devotion you set aside for God each morning, and live your life as if He doesn’t exist for the rest of the 23 hours?

I often found myself on the treadmill, watching My 600-lb Life, taking comfort in the fact that, while I struggled with weight, I wasn’t that far gone. When you see someone so obese they require an electric cart to move, you may wonder how they allowed themselves to reach such a state. Ironically, you’re most likely 600 pounds in your spiritual life. You lack spiritual discipline, and you give in to every appetite you have. For every act of disobedience, weight is added. Any life outside the texture of holiness is a life that is overweight. God is calling us to shed, to strip off any unnecessary weight and sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us. He calls us to be his empty vessels. The enemy uses idols in your heart as leverage to keep you blind.

Why do we get hungry? When we have starved ourselves. Nobody eats five doughnuts and becomes diabetic. Over time, we start to see the effects of overeating, which causes our health to deteriorate. We do not see the immediate impact of sin, yet later, we are forced to reckon with the consequences of sin working against us. You feel stuck because the enemy is keeping the strongholds of your mind when you look at God’s blessings in other people’s lives. You feel overlooked and convince yourself that God does not care about you. Something in your head convinces you, ‘This will never happen to me. God does not see me.’ You pray for other people, and you see things in their lives, and in your heart, you say, ‘God will never show up for me like that.’ These are all demonic attacks that hinder us from seeing beyond our circumstances the beauty that our future, the future perfectly crafted by God, holds. The most significant battlefield is the mind (2 Corinthians 10:5). If that seed of doubt is planted, our vision blurs over time – the enemy has control of our sight.  Thankfully, there is a solution—renewing our minds as stated in Romans 12:2.

In Haggai chapter 1, Haggai accuses the people of having misplaced priorities. They’ve returned to Jerusalem, but they are spending all their time and resources rebuilding their own fancy houses while the temple still lies in ruins from its destruction nearly 70 years ago.

“Are your own houses truly more important than your allegiance to God?’

In Chapter 2, Haggai challenges the priests on ritual purity. He asks whether someone who touches something unclean can make something pure simply by contact. They respond affirmatively. Similarly, the people of Israel, despite their efforts to rebuild, are polluting their work with sin, for their hearts are far from God. Whatever they build will be impure if they fail to humble themselves and turn from apathy and injustice.

Our choices matter. The faithfulness and obedience of God’s people are integral to His purposes being fulfilled in the world. The emptier we become, the more room for Him to fill. As in 2 Kings, the more vessels are emptied, the more oil can be poured. God seeks those whose hearts are devoid of self-interest so He can fill them with His Spirit. When we empty ourselves, we surrender entirely to Him, and He pours His Spirit without measure. When we fill our vessels with the poison of worldly distractions, we taint everything we touch. But when our vessels are filled with the Spirit, they overflow with God’s presence like rivers of living water. As Paul urges in 2 Timothy 2:21, we must cleanse ourselves to be instruments of noble purposes, fit for the Master’s use, ready for every good work. When washed, we are restored and reshaped into vessels that reflect God’s will (Jeremiah 18:4).

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Philippians 1:21