THE GOD OF PURPOSE
THE GOD OF PURPOSE
I came across this story a couple of weeks ago about a teacup that spoke – a lovely story written anonymously. It’s been around for a while apparently but the message is very relevant even now. Please read below.
“There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, “May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so beautiful.” As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
“You don’t understand,” it said. “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay.” My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, “let me alone”, but he only smiled, “Not yet.”
“Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,” the teacup said, “and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I’m getting dizzy!” I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet.” Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, “Not yet.”
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. “There, that’s better,” I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. “Stop it, stop it!” I cried. He only nodded, “Not yet.”
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, “Not yet.”
Then I knew there wasn’t any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, “Look at yourself.” And I did. I said, “That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful.”
“I want you to remember, then,” he said, “I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.” ANNONYMOUS
From the above story, it is clear that God works on purpose and always with the end in mind. “An expected end” Jeremiah 29:11 For this reason we should ask for grace to trust Him enough to stay calm and not fret when trials come. Perhaps you are going through a particularly difficult situation now and are crying out to God to get you out already and He is saying “Not yet” ; just remember what His word says: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 KJV
“All things” in the above scripture means “absolutely all things”. Whether it is good or bad, if we are in the will and purpose of God then the end result will be for our good. Please note that I said we should “ask for grace ” as it is not easy to stay calm when passing through the fire. Only by His grace can we pull through without pulling out the hair on our head.
Therefore let us continually, consciously, commit our lives into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ trusting that He will see us through all situations. Sometimes there will be pain and other times it will be tough but His purpose will never fail. Hang in there.
He is a God of purpose.
Oluyinka Ego-Martins ©