"Why does God not root indwelling sin out of his saints in the first moment of their Christian life, as he will do the moment they die? Why, instead does he carry on their sanctification with a painful slowness, so that all their lives they are troubled by sin and never reach the perfection they desire? Why is it his custom to give them a hard passage through this world?
The answer is that he does all this for his glory - to expose to us our own weakness and impotence, so that we may learn to depend upon his grace and the limitless resources of his saving power. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," wrote Paul, "that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7, KJV)."
J.I. Packer, Hot Tub Religion
Have you ever thought or felt this? The idea of God carrying on our sanctification with "a painful slowness" strikes hard against our deeply rooted pride and beats into the ground the idea of some kind of quick victorious living many preachers promise. When Paul says that we have this treasure, the treasure is Christ, our salvation, we have it in an earthen vessel, or in a clay pot. I think we could better understand this if we thought of the clay pot as a styrofoam cup. Its cheap and disposable, the only value it has is whats inside it, when your through with it you throw it away. If you ever start feeling sorry for yourself just remember your the cup, and whatever your going through God is using to expose your own weakness and lack of power. God wants you to trust in him and depend on his grace not your strength.
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