The Fourteenth Day of Advent, 2016

Saturday, December 10, 2016

And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.  Malachi 3:3

I love to think about the Lord as my righteousness or my shepherd or my peace. Those are very comforting thoughts that I can sit quietly and enjoy as I contemplate the breadth of their meaning. But Malachi presents another view of God, and I wonder if I really want to know Him in this manner.

I sometimes shy away from considering Him as my refiner, as my smelter and purifier. These are painful words, requiring the kind of work in me that will hurt, and on the surface not comforting at all! Not comforting, that is, until I get to the so that!

God wants to make me fit to make offerings to him in righteousness. He says so in this verse from Malachi. He’s speaking of the work He will do in the priests, preparing them to enter His presence on behalf of Israel. I might write this off as not referring to me if I did not know that Hebrews teaches that all believers are part of God’s priesthood, set apart for ministry to and for God’s church! He wants to get rid of all the impurities in my life so that I can come to Him on behalf of myself and others in righteousness, standing rightly without blemish before Him.

Even though the purification process may cause me pain, God’s plan is to prepare me for righteousness – to please Him.

Father, I trust you to refine my life to suit you, that I might present pleasing gifts to you. Help me not to pull away when it hurts. Amen.

And Then It Was Christmas: A Journey Toward Christmas
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, 2006,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator.