magnification...

God is glorified in my weakness. I was reading 2 Corinthians 4 today, as I missed it Sunday morning in Bible study, and I understood that concept a little bit more today. The commentary I read said:

The treasure of gospel light and grace is put into earthen vessels. The ministers of the gospel are subject to the same passions and weaknesses as other men. God could have sent angels to make known the glorious doctrine of the gospel, or could have sent the most admired sons of men to teach the nations, but he chose humbler, weaker vessels, that his power might be more glorified in upholding them, and in the blessed change wrought by their ministry.

God's grandure is magnified in my insignificance because by doing great things through an otherwise incapable tool it is made evident that it is some power outside of said tool doing the work. The saw and hammer and even the nails are not what builds a house; rather, it is the builder himself. And with the knowledge that all saws and hammers and nails are relatively equal, the skill of the individual builder is made all the more evident because it is clear that it is not the supurb quality of the tools that makes a given house more impressive than the next, but rather the skill of the builder. I don't know if that analogy makes sense to anyone else, but it works for me. I'm no better a hammer than the next, but the Builder Who uses me is amazingly talented, so the finished product is pretty impressive. For that matter, I (the hammer) have no room to brag on the finished product, as I had no control over it whatsoever. The successful outcome can only be attributed to the Builder.

Random analogy of the day concluded.