Favorite Illustrations
God's Workmanship
A Tale of Two Pots
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.
Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his passion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side?
That's because I have always
known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds
on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream,
you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful
flowers to
decorate my master's table.
Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to
grace his house."
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, God uses our flaws to grace His world.
In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste.
(Source: E-mail submission
from Reva Tanis)
Hearing/Listening
It was supper time and Brad's mother called out to her son who was playing outside: "Time for supper." After a few minutes she called again, this time a little louder. Still no Brad. Frustrated, she called out again. Finally Brad came running toward the house, "Sorry I'm late Mom, I didn't hear you the first two times you called."
(Based on a real story that was told to Pastor Jeff, names have been changed)
Ready for the Master's Return
Stewardship
After I graduated from college, I had the
opportunity to be the "steward" of a house. I was given the opportunity
to live in a beautiful home--the home of a retired doctor who had recently
lost his wife to cancer. He wanted the freedom to spend most of his
time hunting and fishing and travelling. I had the responsibility to take
care of the house and the property. He kept a room in the house,
but was not there often. Yet I never knew for sure when he would
be there. He would be gone for a month or two or three and then back
for a week or two....sometimes he would be gone a week...sometimes a day.....sometimes
a month. I had to be ready at all times....the dishes couldn't pile up
in the sink, the lawn needed to be mowed, everything needed to be ready
for the owners return. I learned much about the urgency we ought
to have to be good stewards of the gifts we have been by God. We
don't know when he will return, but he will and when he does we will be
accountable for our stewardship.
(Real Life Experiences of Pastor Jeff
Syverson)
Narrow Road
A few years back, in my
"Youth Pastor days", I was taking a van load of teens to Campus Preview
at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia. After driving over half the way,
I needed a break and someone else took the wheel for a while. We
were going along fine and I was deep in conversation with some of my teens
when the driver called back to me, to ask which way he should turn.
He called out two road numbers 411 south or 411 East. Not recognizing
the subtle difference between 411 and the road we were supposed to stay
on 441...I advised him to go South. After a while I was noticing
that nothing seemed familiar. As we went on the mountain roads up
and down curving this way and that, I eventually realized I had given bad
information and we were not on the right road. Of course , by the
time I figured it out, we were at the Alabama border....far from Eastern
Georgia where we were supposed to be. Jesus reminds us that the Christian
life is a "narrow road", sometimes we need to examine our direction, to
make sure we're on the right path. Keep a close eye on the directions
(God's Word) and watch your direction...it's easy to be distracted from
God's best.
Failure
On the show Father Knows
Best, Bud Anderson had a wonderful line on failure following a classic
blunder: "If you're going to be a failure, you might as well be a success
at it."
None of us likes to fail.
Can you relate to Jacque Plant the Hockey Goalie who said:
"How would you like a job
where if you made a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people
boo?"
Yet, our failures can be
opportunities to learn and grow. Thomas Edison had one experiment
where had had 50,000 successive failures. His assistant was frustrated
and ready to quit for lack of results. When the assistant confronted
him, Edison replied:
"Results! We have wonderful
results, we now know 50,000 things which won't work!" Is it any wonder
that Edison accomplished so much? He learned from his failures....he
was a successful failure.
Wholly Consecrated
D.L. Moody was a man that
God greatly used as an Evangelist in the 19th Century. One incident
that greatly impacted his life and ministry was a simple but profound statement
by Henry Varley,
"The world has yet to see
what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and
wholly consecrated to Him."
D.L. Moody was greatly moved
by that statement and was determined to be that man. God greatly
blessed that commitment and used D.L. Moody in a powerful way. 2
Chronicles 16:9 reminds us that the eyes of the of the Lord range thoughout
the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.
God is still looking for people who are fully and wholly consecrated to
Him that he might be strong on their behalf and use them greatly for his
purposes. He's looking... will he find such a heart in you?
Pain/Suffering
In George MacDonald's stories about Malcolm, he describes the difficult process of taming his stubborn and rebellious horse Kelpie. Clementina sees Malcolms treatment of the horse as being extreme and severe. Later, Malcolm used this to illustrate God's dealings in our lives:
The Marquis' Secret, 104.
Christmas Illustration:
Christmas: Are we getting the right message?
A little girl came home from Sunday school triumphantly waving a paper. "Mommy!" she said. "My teacher says I drew the most unusual Christmas picture she has ever seen!"
"It's the flight into Egypt," the little girl said, with a hint of disappointment that the picture's meaning was not immediately obvious.
"Oh," the mother said cautiously. "Well, who is this mean-looking man at the front?"
"That's Pontius, the Pilot," the girl said, now visibly impatient.
"I see. And here you have Mary and Joseph and the baby," the mother volunteered. Studying the picture silently for a moment, she summoned the courage to ask, "But who is this fat man sitting behind Mary?"
The little girl sighed. "Can't you tell? That's Round John Virgin!"
We laugh, but in all reality
it's not just kids that have mixed up ideas about Christmas. With Satan
and reindeers, credit cards and shopping lists, the pursuit of things and
pleasure it's a wonder that Christ gets any attention at all in this busy
season. It's a wonder than any of us has a clue what Christmas is all about.
Source: unknown (found it in the file)
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