“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it,
‘What are you making?’
Isaiah 45:9

Have you ever wished you were like someone else? Do you see your flaws and wish you could be different?

For a long time I felt I did not have the kind of personality that could win souls for Christ. Then along came a man who was telling an Evangelism class that I was in, the many stories of how he successfully brought people to the Lord. This man was the soft and cuddly grandfatherly type, emanating love and gentleness, the kind of person you love to be around.

I was so impressed with this man’s winsome personality which was in such stark contrast to mine that I went home and went to the Lord. I started to say to the Lord that I wanted to be like that man. I only got two words out, “Father, I…” and the Lord stopped me and sternly said, “Shall the clay say to the potter why have you made me thus?”

I stood there in shock. I thought I was asking a good thing, but the Lord was insulted and displeased. He showed me that he wanted me to accept myself exactly as he made me.

This was a real revelation for me, one that changed my life. It ended the striving, destroyed the self-hatred, and taught me about faith, about humility, and about surrender.

“For you see your calling, brethren,
that not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world
to put to shame the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world
to put to shame the things which are mighty…”
1st Corinthians 1:27