To be the message implies you have a message to share. You have probably thought about what kind of message you want to send through your life. Where does that message come from? Is it just from you or is it bigger than that? Does God have something to do with it? We may not even believe in God, but regardless, the God who is behind the Universe wants to reveal a message in our lives.
Discovering the magic in your message
Nothing is more exciting than when you discover your purpose, the divine purpose for which you were created. I was reminded of that this week when Professor Yitang “Tom” Zhang from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) won the MacArthur “Genius” Award for his pioneering work in math, establishing the first finite bound on gaps between prime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang
numbers (I don’t even know what that means!)The incredible thing is that he grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution and was not able to attend school. He borrowed books and taught himself math. He loved it! He came to the United States to study math. Even after graduation he found it hard to find a teaching job and worked at a motel and a Subway shop. But he never lost his passion for math and solving theoretical problems. He eventually became a math teacher at UNH and continued his research. Later he presented his paper as an unknown mathematician at a symposium at Harvard University and was astonished by the acclaim he received. He is fascinated by the order of the Universe and his understanding of the boundaries between numbers is a unique contribution. I don’t know what your purpose and message is but to help you reflect on it I want to share with you the story of the prophet Jeremiah. He is known as the weeping prophet because he spent 40 years weeping over the sins of Israel. Maybe you find yourself crying sometimes over your life and the difficulties that you face. You are not alone.
Be on the lookout for God
When Jeremiah prayed to God for understanding, God didn’t respond with a spiritual experience or ethereal words but did something very practical and down to earth. He told Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house and observe what was happening. It’s easy to think that God doesn’t speak to me! Nevertheless, he may be putting everyday happenings in front of you to help you learn. Be on the lookout for God in your life.
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 18:1-10 (NIV)
If we were Jeremiah in the potter’s house what would we see? The most noticeable thing is the fact that the potter is bent over the wheel, and his hands and the movement of his entire body shapes the clay. The clay doesn’t just form itself into a pot but is molded in unique ways by the potter. 
I was trying to imagine what God wanted the prophet to understand from this field trip. It seems to me that God hoped that Jeremiah would understand the pot cannot exist outside of a relationship with the potter. Pots don’t form themselves. We exist for a purpose and because each and every human being is unique, we exist for a unique purpose. God is molding us into a beautiful vessel to be used for our true purpose. God told Jeremiah, “Like clay in the hand of a potter, so are you in my hand…” To be in God’s hands challenges us! We have to trust in his time and ways, rather than try to control everything, thinking we can form ourselves, by ourselves. It takes patience to see what God is doing in your life. It’s easy in the moment to try and run everything yourself.
Why we need God
We need God because it takes something – some wisdom beyond ourselves, to solve our problems. Einstein understood this when he declared:
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
We need God! At different times in my life I have been tempted to or have endeavored to run things my way. I remember when I was 24; I saw all of my friends, one by one get married. I wondered, what is wrong with me? How come I can’t find love, like those around me? I was envious and somewhat dejected. However, while I lamented and probably whined as much as a dejected Old Testament prophet, God was busy at work behind the scenes. A series of circumstances brought me to America where I met my husband. If I had been in a relationship with someone in Britain I would never have met our church or my husband who is definitely the best person for me and the person I love and respect the most. It’s better to wait for the potter’s timing that to try too hard to orchestrate events. We forget the role that God plays and the role that we play in our lives and that’s why Isaiah 45:9 says:
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, how clumsy can you be? Woe to the one who says to the father what have you given birth to or to a mother what have you brought into the world?’”
It’s exhausting trying to be the general manager of your universe. You try to control this situation and the next. Nothing cooperates and then it turns to fatigue. We have to allow God to mold us. Sometimes that means we need a few rough edges shaved off us before we can receive or even embrace a blessing. It pays to be patient and learn.
What is God trying to do?
We only have to look around the world to see that people aren’t living to their potential and are variously marred. The presence of evil in the world shows us that people are not allowing God or God’s values to guide their lives. There is a lot going on in the world today that has nothing to do with God. It stands to reason that if we want to improve our lives we will have to undergo a little shaping, a little reordering, or be willing at times, to start over.
“But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”
When I read that verse I thought of love. God had an original intention or purpose for love and the family, but that has been marred. The history of humankind is simply the story of God trying to take marred clay and reform it into the original desired shape and design. He wants to see the original love he envisioned before the creation. He wants to us to experience love as God intended.
What kind of love do you want?
There is a lot of love in the world. There is polygamous love, there is pre-marital love, self-centered love, and there is abusive love. All of these loves are played out on the news and in the movies – this week the video tape of a football player knocking his fiancé unconscious was shared around the world. TV series feature sex for hire and betrayal. This is not love as God intended. This is why God showed Jeremiah the potter’s wheel. He was saying you have to be re-formed by me. You are marred and I want to reshape you so that you are formed to experience love as I intended. A love that honors you, respects you, values you and cherishes you. This is why the Blessing of Marriage has been at the center of Rev and Mrs. Moon’s ministry. Love has to be re-formed in the potter’s hands; separated from any self-centeredness, purified and consecrated in the presence of God so that we can be one family under God and experience love as God intended. 
We need God because without God we don’t have a blueprint for true love. There are lots of definitions out there for love but without God’s definition of love we will never create love as God intended. In one sense this is the absolute core of our ministry. We should make a Blessing movement around the world because everyone deserves to have true love. Knowing that this is what God is offering us, why wouldn’t we choose it and humbly allow ourselves to be molded.
Being malleable
What mars clay? I don’t know if you have ever tried to create pottery. To be successful the clay has to have the right texture. If it’s too hard or dry then it can’t be molded. Sometimes our hearts become a little dry or a little hard. We have given up hope along the way and become cynical. We decide to pick and choose what we want to do instead of being vulnerable and open to God. We pray, “Show me your will,” but when the answer comes down we quickly decide we don’t like it or it would take way too much effort to follow. The problem is we want God to tell us what to do, so we can decide if we want to do it, or not! Conversely, God wants us to say “Yes” first before he reveals himself. Restoration is based on us committing ourselves. Each one of us has to take a leap of faith and show our willingness. When we are in that space, we are malleable and God can do something in our lives. Why else could the clay be marred? Maybe it is a little too inconsistent in texture. Have you ever watched someone at a pottery wheel? At times the clay is soft but then becomes too moist, and what would have been a spectacular pot suddenly falls apart. In our own lives we may be inconsistent because we have no conviction. There is a big difference between belief and conviction. A belief is something you hold onto, but conviction is something that holds you. A belief can get dropped if things get too tough or if you’re with one group of people over another. A conviction goes deeper and stays with you even when you are faced with overwhelming odds. This series is about being the message. To be the message we have to have conviction in God’s word. Having conviction sets us apart and gives us the ability to be the message. Yesterday, in a game of college football between Michigan and Utah, one of the Utah players got down on one knee and prayed before the game. His conviction allows him to be the message in front of millions. It was this need for absolute conviction that caused God to play tough with Rev. Moon. As a young man he went before God in prayer with his conviction that the fall of man depicted in the Bible was tied to the misuse of love or illicit sex. The first time he prayed, he said that God denied him, and again the second time but Rev. Moon had so much conviction that he went back a third time. It was only then that God affirmed his understanding. Think about it, if Rev Moon was going to expose evil’s hold on people throughout history, wouldn’t God need him to have conviction. Mere belief would not be enough to see him through the struggles ahead. The only way to develop that kind of conviction is to be deeply rooted in God’s word.
“Imagine a huge tree which is really beautiful to behold. Although you can’t see its roots, they will be deeply laid. The tip of its root is small and lies hundreds of feet below the surface. Can you see that the tiniest leaf on the top is connected to that root? It is so high in one direction and so deep in the other that the connection is hard to see. Yet, without a relationship with the root, the leaf will eventually die. By the same token, if we human beings say, “I don’t care about my roots; they are separate from me.” Then we too will start to die. Fertilizer is put on the ground to feed the part of the tree which we can’t see. The fertilizer for human beings is thought and prayer. These give nourishment to our root. We have to constantly give more and more nourishment to the underground root.” Sun Myung Moon
What are you convicted about? That is a great question because your ability to be the message is only as strong as your conviction. God wants you to keep coming back to Him so that he can bless you. God has conviction in you! Just because you are not perfect doesn’t mean that our Heavenly Parent doesn’t have conviction that you can formed in his image. He is all about remaking and re-forming each one of us so that we can experience love as God intended. Being the master potter, when God sees a mar in the clay – it’s too hard, not consistent enough or has little pebbles in it; instead of throwing it away, he decides to rework and reshape it. Being reshaped isn’t easy. It doesn’t always feel good and you want to give up. Or maybe you think you are not worthy – why would God bother with me. Our Heavenly Parent, like any parent, isn’t about to give up on you.
The God who says, “I have engraved you on the palm of My hands…” Isaiah 49:16, isn’t about to give up on you.
I am reminded of Jaga Gavin, our national Youth Pastor who has the names of his brothers tattooed on his arm. It’s really an expression of his commitment to each and every brother: Jago, Jatoma, Jario and Jaka. Their names are written on his arm and engraved in his heart. It’s beautiful. Wouldn’t God do as much? God is working on you, He’s in your life and your name is engraved on His hand. Not only does God know what you need but He cares about you. As Einstein reminded us we need a higher consciousness to help solve our problems. Love always comes first. With God it’s always love first. He’s working in your life and He’s going to make you into a beautiful person who can share His message.
Seventeen Miracles
I was reminded of the power of a life connected to God watching the movie “Seventeen Miracles.” It’s the true story of a group of Mormons who travelled west to Utah, in the mid-1800s. It is a witness to God and people who through the sincerity of their lives were a testimony to true love. Under the most unbearable circumstances they never forgot who they were or God’s promise to them. The main character was concerned that under duress they would lose their faith and become no better than animals in their quest to survive. They proved him wrong by refusing to resort to violence or selfishness and instead kept their position as God’s sons and daughters no matter what they went through. They believed in God’s promise to them and in doing so became a message that is still being told 150 years later. It’s a movie worth watching. As you think about your message take heart and hope in knowing that God is with you and willing to go the distance with you so that you can experience love as God intended. Be the message and make your message count!
