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.
8 But now, Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.
1 Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah:2 »Go to the potter's house. There I will give you my message.«3 I went to the potter's house, and he was working there at his wheel.4 When a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it.5 Jehovah spoke his word to me. Jehovah asked:6 »Nation of Israel, can I do with you as this potter does with clay?« Nation of Israel, »You are in my hands like the clay in the potter's hands.
20 Yes, but you, O man, who are you to answer back to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: »Why have you made me this way?« (Isaiah 45:9)21 Or does the potter not have authority over the clay? Can he make out of the same lump one vessel to honor, and another for common use? (Jeremiah 18:6)
9 »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?
16 You have it all backwards. A clay dish does not say to the potter, »You did not make me.« And should the one made say to the maker, »You do not understand?«
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.
20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.21 If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power beyond what is normal may be from God, and not from ourselves.
2 The valued sons of Zion are valued like the best gold. They are looked on as vessels of earth, the work of the hands of the potter!
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.
8 »Your hands formed me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?9 »Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?
23 Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a broken pottery covered with silver dross.
34 »Mourn, you shepherds, and cry. Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. The time has come for you to be slaughtered. The time has come for you to be scattered, and you will break like fine pottery.