The Doorpost: Heroes of faith are ordinary people (2 Corinthians 4:7)

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2 Corinthians 4:7

The heroes of the faith we read about in the Bible are presented there as being ordinary people. Their faults are not glossed over. We learn about them “warts and all.” When they were strong, it was not because they were naturally stronger than other people, but because God made them strong through faith. When they were good, it was not because their goodness was superior to other peoples’, but because they were obeying the God who is good. When they were powerful, it was not because they were made to have more power than other people, but because they trusted the only true and all-powerful God to show His power through them. When they were wise, it was not because they were naturally wiser than other people, but because they sought and received the wisdom of the all-knowing, all-wise God.

The religions and movements of the world exalt their leaders and heroes as extraordinary people. The Bible tells us that our heroes and leaders of the faith were ordinary people through whom God did extraordinary things. This is still the way it is today.

There are two errors in thinking that relate to this, to which we must not succumb. On the one hand, we must not deceive ourselves by thinking that we are better than others (Romans 12:3). At the other extreme, we must not think that we are only ordinary people and unable to be used by God to do great things. We should trust that God can (and will) use us to do great things (John 14:12). Then when He does them, we must be wise enough to realize that it was He who did it, not us.

“We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Each of us should be trusting Jesus Christ to do great things for His Kingdom through us, even though we are only “jars of clay.”