You may well have read or heard this story before … but it never hurts to be reminded that benefits can come from a situation that would appear to be a negative. Here’s a recent sharing of it by Reverend Mark Adams, Senior Pastor of Redland Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland:
Many years ago a rich man had a servant whose job it was to carry water each day from a distant stream to his master’s house.
The servant carried the water in two pots, each of which hung from opposite ends of a pole he carried across his neck. One pot was in perfect condition and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream. The other pot had a crack in it and always arrived at the master’s house half full, which means for two years the servant delivered only one and a half pots of water to his master’s house each day.
The undamaged pot was proud of itself. It had been made to carry water without leaking and it did the job perfectly. The cracked pot, on the other hand, felt ashamed. It was miserable knowing it was not able to accomplish what it had been made to do. Still it did the best it could, even if it was only half of what the perfect pot could do.
Finally the cracked pot spoke to the servant. “I need to apologize to you,” the pot said, “For two years now, I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to our master’s house. Because of my flaws you have to do all of this work and you don’t get full value for your efforts.” The servant simply said, “When we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
As they made their way back to the house, the cracked pot saw the gorgeous wildflowers beside the path and was cheered by their beauty. When they reached the house, the servant said to the cracked pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path? I’ve always known about your flaw and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day when we walked back from the stream, you watered them. For two years I’ve been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. If you weren’t just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”
If you have ever felt like this cracked pot—if you’ve ever thought that because of your flaws you were limited in the way God could use you—then remember two things.
THING #1 – God doesn’t make junk. He intentionally made you unique. As it says in Ephesians 2:10, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
THING #2 – In God’s great economy nothing goes to waste. If we allow Him our Lord will use our flaws to “grace His table.” God knows our flaws and can use them for our good and His glory. Remember, God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect will. This is why Paul wrote, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness….for God’s power is made perfect in weakness.” (As written in his second letter to the Corinthians, 11:30 and 12:9.)
© 2011 Mark Adams
