Are you a "cracked pot"?

2 Corinthians 2:14. But thanks be to Elohim, who always brings about to us a victory in the Mashiyach, and manifests by us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.  15. For through the Mashiyach, we are to Elohim a sweet aroma in them that live and in them that perish:  16. To these, an aroma of death to death; and to those, an aroma of life to life. And who is adequate to these things!  17. For we are not like others who water down the Words of Elohim; but as of the truth, and as of Elohim, we speak in the Mashiyach before Elohim.  (AENT)

I remember reading a story once about a man from long ago  (and I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember exactly how it went) who fetched the family’s water at a well at the top of a hill, using two clay pots fastened on either side of a big branch across his shoulders. One of the pots was cracked and usually, by the time he returned to his house, the leaky pot would be half empty.  Being poor, he couldn’t afford to buy another pot, and so, grumbling and lamenting over the wasted water, he kept using that broken pot because it was better than nothing.

Then one day, he noticed something:  Flowers were blooming all along the trail on the side where the cracked pot had been leaking the water on his trek down the hill.  He smiled when he realized the water had not gone to waste after all; that it had been used by Elohim to beautify the otherwise dull hillside to bring smiles and fill the air with wonderful fragrances!

Believers who have “passed through the fire” of this world and ended up with bruises and broken hearts and minds  are like that cracked pot - because, at some point, once they have been refined through their experiences, the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) is bound to “leak out” and fill the air with the holy fragrance of YHWH, to nudge others.  These people exude a certain air that is filled with the shalom (peace) that only YHWH can provide! 

YHWH is able to better utilize as witnesses people who are “cracked pots” because they have the best testimonies!  They are able to pass on the knowledge and wisdom gained through their trials and tribulations; whereas those born with the proverbial “silver spoons in their mouths”, who have warmed church pews all their lives and never endured any real hardships and have had everything handed to them, have nothing tangible to share and rarely reflect Messiah within themselves. 

They’ve had no need to cling to the Savior or cry out in anguish to Him, because they were never thrust into real hardships.  They have never had to deal with gut-wrenching pain or adversity so, when something bad finally does happen to them, they fall apart and end up in the clutches of “the world” (i.e., they might end up as drug addicts or alcoholics, seeking help from psychiatrists or counselors with no knowledge of God or the Bible). They are basically babes who have never had a chance to learn and grow to be what YHWH needed them to be in preparation for the world to come. Consequently, they’re like lumps of coal with no holy reflection....

Zechariah 13:2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye. 3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly. (CJB)

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My Name, and I will answer them; I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, Yahweh my Elohim is my Elohim. (CJB)

Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye. 3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly. (CJB)

Isaiah 48:10 "Look, I have refined you, but not [as severely] as silver; [rather] I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. (CJB)

Job 23:10 Yet he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold. (CJB)

Job 23:10 Yet he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold. 11 My feet have stayed in his footsteps; I keep to his way without turning aside. 12 I don't withdraw from his lips' command; I treasure his words more than my daily food. (CJB)

As YHWH's Creations, most of us have gone through "fire" in one way or another and, hopefully, we learned from the experience. Through our trials and tribulations, rough edges were smoothed and sharp edges were sluffed off, until we more closely resembled what we were meant to be.

God allows us to go through hard times so that we may grow and become smooth and shiny. His goal is for us to become a reflection of Him that not only He can see, but also so others can see Him in us.

The sooner we realize that, the quicker we become a valuable member of the Family of God, ready and willing to sow seeds and even water them, whenever the opportunity presents itself!