In Earthen Vessels...

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels,..."

I'm not sure that the full weight of this verse has really sunk in yet, but it dominated me today, while I was walking through the church. I know that kinda sounds "holy", but it wasn't, I was just grabbing a ladder so I could reset the internet access in the building, b/c I needed to get online, I have work to do too.
I don't know why I was even thinking of this verse, in fact, I wasn't, I was thinking about work, but it hit me like a 747 in a nosedive from 30,000 ft looking for a seat in the Crystal Cathedral, minus the horrific sound and impending doom.
The language of the verse resounded in my ears for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Every other time I can recall in my life, this verse has always struck me as some sort of beautiful prose, that I supposed Paul must have written in some blissful state of metaphor that the Holy Spirit gifted him as he was writing. And it struck me as I was pondering it, that Paul was indeed no playwright, nor poetic. He was a lawyer, and from the strictest order of Judaism. He was trained to say what he meant, and mean what he said. A wordsmith, who had spent much of his life being trained to surgically assemble sentences, that they might land on captive ears in full force.
With that established, I submit that Paul was not merely comparing us to simple jars of clay. He was saying quite literally, that we are simple jars of clay, form and fashioned by God even from our beginnings in Adam. He was referencing Genesis 2:4-25, and his forefather's divine creation from the clay of the newly formed earth. He was recalling Ecclesiastes 12:7, "...the dust shall return to the earth as is was, and the spirit to God who gave it." Remember here, as a Pharisee (and a part of the Sanhedrin), and the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), Paul had memorized the ENTIRE Old Testament, and was well able to quote it and give its history in vivid detail. He was amongst the elite when he was Sha'ul (Saul), and was obligated to be among the smartest in the culture in order to achieve his position. Paul was not simply telling us "oh hey guys, God wants you to be like an empty vessel, so He can fill you up...won't that be nice and happy...." He was literally telling us that without God, we are simply dust, and when we die we will return to simply dust. We are but jars of clay, our lives fragile and short. Desiring to be used for only for the finest substances and highest callings. However, many mistake their highest calling and finest substance, by trying to fill the jar with the best they can find. This is an easy and crucial mistake. The highest calling of an jar is to be filled with what it was created for.
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 cor 4:7
Now, it is outside of the jar's realm to be able to know what it was created for, as it did not create itself. Who would best know what the jar was intended to do? The Creator certainly! If we can walk this line of reasoning out, then we quickly arrive at Paul's conclusion. If we cannot know in our present state what we are to be filled with, and The Creator does, then what does this produce that we should take wisdom from? The knowledge "that the surpassing power belonds to God and not to us." What is the practical application of that knowledge? Trust in Our Father. Wasn't it nice for The Holy Spirit (via Paul) to leave us all the space, room, free will, and life experience to figure out what lay between the words "clay" and "to show that"? How long will we be content filling our jars with sand from our boxes, pretending it for gold, before we allow God to fill us with something truly substantial?
It is only when we allow God to fill us that we can move onto the next verses (8-10). "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." It is only when we put to death ourselves that we can be filled with what our Creator intended us for, and only then can we properly obey verses 11 and 12. "For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you." The substantiation of our fragile jars is the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

I'll try and finish this later...my eyes are shutting involuntarily, still recovering from Origins.