Common Nobility

"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" - Romans 9:21

Romans 9:21 had me doing some deep thinking about myself a while back. Curious if I was okay being formed for common use. Common things are used. I look at a common piece of pottery as a bit drab, unordained, perhaps chipped. I look at a noble piece as placed on a shelf, bejeweled, looked upon. A common piece is unnoticed. A noble piece is noticed. A common piece is of everyday use. A noble piece is for special occasions.

And I think I am okay with that. I hope I am. I believe it is a moment by moment decision to be satisfied with this view of commonality. I know sometimes I like to be looked at as noble. But I am okay with common. I think. I am okay with being used. I think. I am okay being chipped. I don't want to be, but I think I'm okay with that. I am okay being unnoticed. I think I am. I want to be.

I have the above verse from Romans on my computer monitor at work. And like most things on my computer monitor. They tend to be up there and I forget about them. But this "common" idea reemerged in a conversation with some friends the other day. I realized that when we look at words like common or noble, our definitions, or moreover our understanding comes from our own viewpoint.

But what is God's viewpoint. What are His understandings of common and noble? What do they each look like to Him? What is noble to God? What is common to God?

I believe God seeks the useful. The chipped. The marginalized. The hidden. Those who allow themselves to be placed on the Potter's wheel.

Blessed are the poor...those who mourn...the meek...those who thirst for righteousness...the merciful...the pure of heart...the peacemakers...those persecuted for righteousness...

I want to be commonly noble in the eyes of the Potter.