Vessels of Mercy

October 31, 2017

Vessels of Mercy

And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Romans 9:23-24 (NASB)

Read Romans 9: 14-24

Paul is continuing to weave the story of Israel into the New Covenant church. To do so, he reached back to several OT passages for the inspiration of his metaphor of the potter and clay. (See Isaiah 29:16; 45:9 and Jeremiah 18:1-6) For Paul, God’s plan of redemption is a continuing story. Although Israel failed to grasp her mission to be a light of salvation to the world, God did not throw out the clay he was working with; rather, he chose to remold the clay into new vessels of mercy. I chose the NASB translation because of its use of ‘vessels of mercy’ as opposed to other translations that refer to ‘objects of mercy.’ I think this is an important distinction because it points to the vocation God has in mind for those whom he spoke with Moses: “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose” (Romans 9:15 and Exodus 33:19). When Israel failed to grasp her mission, God remolded Israel into the New Covenant church made up of both Jews and Gentiles.

My Takeaway: I recall the closing line in yesterday’s takeaway, “much is expected from those to whom much has been given.” Yes, God has chosen to shower upon us his compassion and his mercy, but not so we can bask in his glory for own sake; rather so that we can be a vessel through which God can shower his mercy and compassion on others.

 Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.