The following was an e-mail I received from a friend July 22, 2003.
Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot. Then she thought again about the verse that says: He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."
As I was recently cleaning out my inbox, I came upon the above e-mail and it brought understanding at the most perfect time for me. It helped me to press through the hard times...when it was hard to love, hard to serve, hard to choose to see with Jesus' eyes instead of my own. This picture pretty much described about the past two and a half years of my life with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) Holoholo Ministries (H2M). I was given two choices. Indeed, YWAM H2M was for me the path I chose that was the road less traveled by. I know without a doubt Jesus walked through it all with me. But like the author best expressed it- "and that made all the difference!" Hard? Yes...but without a doubt good! Because of Jesus, my life has changed and I thank Him for the joy and love He brings when on my own I fall short.
My friend also sent a really good advice...more than that a reminder that I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing with you. So here goes...
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
"Nothing else really matters, only to love Him and to do what He tells me. I don't know quite why it should be so, but it is. All the time it is suffering to love and sorrow to love, but it is lovely to love Him in spite of this, and if I should cease to do so, I should cease to exist." -Much Afraid Hinds Feet on High Places
living to make God smile!
About Me
- jenn-ness
- just following Jesus... Philippians 3:7-11
2 comments:
Jenn...
The second half of today's post on my blog was done with you in mind. May His refinement be sweet, and filled with joy :)
a post my friend had on his blogspot that helped put perspective for my post...I wanted it handy just in case I needed a little reminder and well...I believe its a pretty good reminder for all us as well.
Here goes....
I was reading in Hebrews 12 today about God's discipline. Check out verses 4 - 7:
(4) You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; (5) and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; (6) For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives."
(7) It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
It struck me as somewhat odd that verse seven says "it is for discipline that you endure," and not the other way around, which would make it "it is for endurance that you are disciplined." The goal of endurance is God's discipline. I'm still not sure what I make of it...I mean, the end of chapter 11 and the surrounding verses in chapter 12 seem to indicate that we are to embrace endurance, in order that we might be disciplined by the Father. So then, I must ask, what is the nature of this discipline? Is it the discipline that a wayward child receives, the reception of which he dreads because he knows he is in the wrong? Or is it the discipline of someone in say, a military boot camp, the type that is embraced by the soldier because he knows it is to his betterment? I think it's both. We are sometimes as children, not knowing that what the Father gives to us is best. At other times, we are as soldiers, knowing the painful discipline He inflicts is best, because we are not yet at a point where we are beyond such discipline. Verse 2 speaks of Christ enduring the cross "for the joy set before Him." Verse 11 says that those who have been trained by discipline "yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness." We endure to embrace the joyful fruit of discipline. Hehe...easier said than done :)
posted by Bolo on www.smeagolisfree.blogspot.com
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