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.
But you are our father, Lord. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us,
The Lord said to me, "Go down to the potter’s house, where I will give you my message." So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.
Then the Lord said to me, "Don’t I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter’s hands.
But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, "Why did you make me like this?" After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.
Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker,
a pot that is like all the others?
Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing?
Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?
They turn everything upside down. Which is more important, the potter or the clay? Can something you have made say, "You didn’t make me"? Or can it say, "You don’t know what you are 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.
In a large house there are dishes and bowls of all kinds: some are made of silver and gold, others of wood and clay; some are for special occasions, others for ordinary use. Those who make themselves clean from all those evil things, will be used for special purposes, because they are dedicated and useful to their Master, ready to be used for every good deed.
Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us.
Zion’s young people were as precious to us as gold,
but now they are treated like common clay pots.
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 formed and shaped me,
and now those same hands destroy me.
Remember that you made me from clay;
are you going to crush me back to dust?
Insincere talk that hides what you are really thinking is like a fine glaze on a cheap clay pot.
Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered, and you will be butchered like rams.