But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

We were made to bring God glory.

We used to think we were in charge of accomplishing this by making our lives better than everyone else’s. When it became apparent that this was going to be difficult – almost impossible – to do, we changed it to making our lives appear better than everyone else’s, all the time missing the fact that God already had a plan in place for bringing Himself glory, which included our weaknesses, our shortcomings and our human frailty. All the stuff about ourselves we tend to want to hide is what makes His plan actually work, but very few truly get this because of the level of personal humiliation that goes along with it.

God’s plan for bringing Himself glory involves a contrast between our weakness and His strength, our frailty and His power, our sin and His forgiveness, our failure and His grace, and you need to see both sides of the coin to make this work. People are supposed to get the point that we are common clay – made of the same stuff as everyone else – tempted by the same temptations, vulnerable to the same sins, and hampered by the same weaknesses as the next guy. God’s plan for bringing glory to Himself is to show up in our lives to such an extent that others are somewhat confused by us. They see God’s power at work in us, but then at the same time they know who we are, and we do not have it all together.

God’s plan is to force the conclusion that the power must be coming from God and not from us. That is the true meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:7, and any attempt to make ourselves look better than we really are, works against this purpose and causes people to see us instead of the Lord.

To put it in superhero terms (this does appear to be the summer for superheroes, doesn’t it?), there’s no confusing Clark Kent with Superman even though they are the same person. When you watch Clark Kent turn into Superman, you know it’s not just Clark Kent there. Something took over. To complete the analogy: the God part would be that which makes Superman super, while all along, we all know it’s still just Clark Kent. By the same token, Clark Kent never gets the glory; Superman does. The contrast between the two insures that.

It’s not our “good” lives that will impress people; it’s the real life of Christ shining through our struggling lives. Think about it… in the first case, we are making the impression; in the second case, Christ is. Which way do you think God wants it?