“I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make” (Jer. 18:3,4)

No master Workman looks at a piece of work he is doing as it is half finished, and begins to find fault. There may be faults in it, but it is not finished yet.

And while he works on it to take away all the faults, still he looks at it in his finished purpose in his own original plan.

It would be an awful thing if the wondrous Master Workman were to look at us and say, That is good for nothing. He doesn't do that. He looks at us as we are in His eternal purpose in Christ, and goes on with His wondrous work.

You and I may look at it and say, “I don't see how the Lord is ever going to make a Christian out of me, and make me fit for heaven, or anything else.” If he looked at us as we look at ourselves, and if He were as poor a Workman as we, we could never be of any worth. No; He looks at us as we are in His finished purpose. Although we may appear all rough, marred, and scarred now, as we are here and in ourselves; He sees us as we are yonder in Christ.

As we have confidence in Him, we will let Him carry on the work. Has He not given us an example of His workmanship? God has set before us in Christ His complete workmanship in sinful flesh. Now He says to us, “Look at that. That is what I'm able to do with sinful flesh. Now you put your confidence in Me and let Me work. I will carry on the work.” It is not our task at all.

Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1895, pp. 367,368