'Pousa, the Chinese potter

Pousa, the Chinese potter

There is a story of Pousa, the Chinese potter , who received from the emperor a command to make a rare set of porcelain ware for the royal table. With greatest pains he began his work, desiring to make it the finest achievement of his life. Again and again, however, when the pieces were put into the furnace, they came out marred.

At length another set was ready for the burning, and the potter hoped that this one would be successful. He had wrought it with the greatest care. But as he watched it in the furnace, he saw that this too would be a failure. In his despair, he threw himself into the fire, and his body was consumed.

But when the pieces were taken out, they were found to be so wondrously beautiful, that nothing like them had ever before been seen. Not until the potter gave himself, sacrificing his own life in the doing of it, was his work successful.

This old heathen legend has its lesson for Christian life. Our work never reaches the highest beauty, is never fit for our King — until love's self-sacrifice is brought into it.

Things we do ourselves, to win honor for our own name, to make profit for our own enrichment — are never the things that are most beautiful, or fit for King Jesus.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

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