If you give me cardboard, I can build anything you want. It doesn’t matter, I can build it. I’m exactly who April has labeled me: ‘The Cardboard King.’ I yearn for the day when cardboard construction becomes a competitive sport. I’ll be a first round draft choice.
With cardboard in my hands, I can create shields or forts or even nifty patio furniture. The important point is this: The cardboard must become what I want it to become. I control the glue, the staples, and the duct tape. I am the master wielder of the carpenter’s knife.
In Jeremiah 18:6, God says, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does? Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
We need context. First, God is sovereign—reigning king and master of all. In verse 7, God continues, “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it.” Then to verse 9: “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build it up or to plant it.”
God’s the Boss. We aren’t. End of story. We are like cardboard. The cardboard can’t do anything unless I make it so. If I don’t like what it becomes, I can destroy it.
So how, then, does this become part of the easy yoke which Jesus promises in Matthew 11:30? “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Many people believe God isn’t sovereign. But that doesn’t really matter does it? Someone might argue the sky isn’t blue on a bright summer day, but that doesn’t make the sky un-blue.
People go one step further. First, they say God is not sovereign. In the next statement, they declare themselves sovereign over their lives. Maybe that works out fairly well for them up until death becomes sovereign. Post-death, they come face-to-face with God—the One who holds every person’s eternal life in His hands. Their sovereignty melts like a glue stick in a plugged in glue gun.
From tots, we’re taught to take control of our lives. That’s the path to successful adulthood. That idea twists when we face God in the next life. Now, we’re adults with a back trail. No further growth or teaching will take place. It’s the ultimate final exam.
What’s on the final exam? If it was an essay question, it would go something like this: Describe what you did with your life once you allowed Jesus to be Savior of your life?
Accepting Christ is life-changing. We become undead. Ephesians 2:1 describes every unsaved person as being dead in our trespasses and sins. This describes anyone who claims sovereignty over his life and refuting God’s sovereignty. Later in verses 4-6: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Far better to give God sovereignty over our lives by putting our faith in His Son, Jesus. 1 Peter 5:6 carries a powerful exhortation: “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
As a cardboard crafter, I could care less about the cardboard. If a piece doesn’t work out, it’s trashed, and I pick out another piece.
God operates vastly different. His love and care for me is limitless. Yes, me—a guy who is a sinner and will be a sinner for the rest of my life. But instead of throwing me in a burn barrel, He salvages me through His Son.
In this sinful cardboard piece of a man, He continues to grow my capacity for love, joy, peace and goodness. He’s making me more faithful, patient and humble. I possess more self-control and kindheartedness.
I may be cardboard, but I’m His cardboard. That makes all the difference.
That last line says it all! And YES HE IS SOVEREIGN!