Unlike the Parchment and Pen guys, I am not an American Idol fan. However, I have recently become a moderate “Britain’s Got Talent” fan thanks to Paul Potts. Potts was a mobile car phone salesman who had a voice that could break cedar. His audition on the show was dramatic because he presented himself as an ordinary guy. Singing opera is no ordinary feat. Thus, expectations of Paul were quite low. These changed drastically for me only a few bars into Nessun Dorma. Out of this simple and scared man emerged power, grace, and beauty in the form of song.
Even though the outcome of the audition was to make much of Mr. Potts, I could not help but reflect upon Paul’s refrain in 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Cor. 4:7-11 (ESV)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. [8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
The power, grace, and beauty of the gospel emerges from unlikely sources. There is little regal about Paul’s (the apostle) description of the bearers of the gospel of Christ. In the Corinthians passage, the “life of Jesus” is manifested in the brokenness and frailty of those afflicted for Christ. The surpassing power of the gospel appears clearly in the broken lives of the persecuted yet profoundly affectionate followers of Jesus. The beautiful music that Paul Potts sings is a token echo of the goodness, mercy, grace, wisdom, and power that emanates from the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is sung by the Savior through the afflicted lives of his saints.
Please pray for the persecuted church!
To have some idea of what I am talking about, you might have a listen to Mr Potts in the clip below.
