Vaso
A metáfora do vaso é uma das mais belas da Bíblia. Assim como o oleiro molda o barro, Deus nos forma segundo seus propósitos, fazendo de nós vasos úteis para sua glória.
Nas mãos do oleiro
Deus é o Oleiro e nós somos o barro. Ele tem autoridade e sabedoria para nos moldar conforme sua vontade perfeita, e não devemos questionar sua obra.
Yet Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we all are the work of your hands.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal my words to you." So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.
The word of the Lord came to me: "House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? " — this is the Lord’s declaration. "Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this? " Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
"Woe to the one who argues with his Maker —
one clay pot among many.
Does clay say to the one forming it,
‘What are you making? ’
Or does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?
You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
"He didn’t make me"?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
"He doesn’t understand what he’s doing"?
Vasos para honra
O cristão é chamado a ser um vaso de honra, purificado e preparado para toda boa obra. Nosso valor está em quem nos formou e no que carregamos.
Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some for honorable use and some for dishonorable. ,So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
Zion’s precious children —
once worth their weight in pure gold —
how they are regarded as clay jars,
the work of a potter’s hands!
Moldados pela graça
Mesmo quando nos sentimos frágeis e imperfeitos, o poder de Deus se aperfeiçoa em nossa fraqueza. Ele nos restaura e nos renova continuamente.
"Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?
Please remember that you formed me like clay.
Will you now return me to dust?
Smooth lips with an evil heart
are like glaze on an earthen vessel.
Wail, you shepherds, and cry out.
Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
Because the days of your slaughter have come,
you will fall and become shattered like a precious vase.