Why have you made me like this?

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But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory — even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? -Romans 9:20-24 NLT

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The idea that God has made some "for dishonorable use" presents us with interesting questions. Is Paul saying that God is the author of dishonorable actions? Some think that is exactly what he is saying. Or is the apostle speaking to how God created each of us with the capacity to do things that are dishonorable? I tend to see it in that light. For if we each do not have the capacity to be vessels of honor then we have not all been made in the image of God.

When we focus our attention on the words "vessels of wrath" is is easy to skim past the phrase "vessels of mercy". Have you ever thought of yourself in that light? Perhaps we would all act differently if we did? Maybe this idea would totally revolutionize the way that we see ourselves? Being a vessel of mercy would mean that we would speak kinder words and act with loving compassion like our teacher Jesus - the divine image and personification of a vessel of mercy.

Forgive us Lord. We often speak and act unmercifully. Teach us to be vessels of mercy prepared for glory.

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