Bible in a Year - 2 Corinthians 4:7-8 - Unimpressive

This isn’t the prettiest photo I’ve ever shared.  It is a series of utility poles on an ordinary street with wires going every which way.  Its messy and chaotic and yet...there’s something there.  In fact, there are three somethings that I see in the midst - three crosses.  Do you see them?  Depends on where you are focused.  If you focus on the mess and the chaos, it might be hard to see them.  But if you look deeper, there they are.

As I’ve come to the 4th chapter of 2 Corinthians, I read this morning about clay jars and Paul’s continuing message that there’s nothing fancy or impressive about who he is and in fact, he seems the opposite.  Here’s how The Message translates these verses...

If 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.

This is just one part of a larger message Paul is sharing about how we are to look and act like Jesus and that will often mean that we will not look or act like what the world defines as impressive or powerful.  Humility, sacrifice, grace, radical love, inclusion, unity - these are hallmarks of what Jesus did and taught and those don’t generally get someone to 100K+ followers on social media or a pastoring a megachurch.

Like this photo...I could have shared the full color and you would have seen some pretty stunning colors of a sunrise in the background and the other parts might not have been as obvious.  But to me, the message here is about the unimpressive utility poles that make up the crosses in the center.  Maybe not literal jars of clay but unimpressive nonetheless...