“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” (Jeremiah 18:6).
 
Having been instructed to go to the potter’s house so that he could better understand the message God wants to communicate to His people, the prophet Jeremiah obeys and there observes the process of a potter molding clay. The potter doesn’t press down on the clay; rather he continuously lifts it up and shapes it as it spins on the wheel.
 
Actually, God wants His people to get the point that He can do for them whatever needs to be done so that they will be successful, but they must be pliable and responsive. He can mold them into the kind of people He wants them to be only if they allow it to happen by giving up their rebellious and idolatrous ways.
 
While God doesn’t work in miraculous ways today as He did among the Israelites, He has placed us on the “wheel of His word” and His foot (so to speak) is on the wheel. Through that word, He has the power to turn and mold us into a people who can achieve great heights spiritually. But we, too, must be pliable and responsive enough to allow it to happen.

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).
 
Early in His ministry, Jesus has this serious discussion with some of the Jews in Jerusalem. He is here making a direct statement about their spiritual activities but yet implying they have failed to get the message.
 
Yes, they search the scriptures (the Old Testament) and depend on that search for gaining an entrance into heaven, but they have not even reached a proper understanding of who He is, even though the scriptures proclaim that He, the Messiah, is coming.
 
The Jews were approaching the scriptures academically without internalizing the meaning of the message. And the implication is that they had failed.
 
The implication for us is that having an academic knowledge of the scriptures is not enough to satisfy God: we must also put the message into our hearts, allowing it to mold us into the kind of caring person God wants His children to be.

“For there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2.11).

The writer, the Apostle Paul, has been describing two extremes of people in this passage, beginning with those who are resistant to Jesus and His wonderful message all the way to those who are patiently willing to submit to His authority. As well, Paul gives the consequences for each type.
 
His message—presented with such power in so few words—is that God will judge each person according to the way he has conducted his life here because God will be fair to all—He is not partial.

Impartiality is an admirable trait for anyone to possess, no matter what his position or power. So, it is reassuring and comforting to know that our Heavenly Father will always be impartial in His dealing with us. This reassurance surely motivates us to be all that God wants us to be.