Elementary

Good Monday Morning what a day this is going to be for this is the day the Lord has made, now let’s rejoice and be glad in it. Last week my wife and I took a cruise and had to once again put on sun tan lotion to keep from getting too much sun. We enjoyed ourselves; we had not been on a vacation in four years. No phones, computers and for one week we could devote time to each other without anything interrupting us. While we were away I spent time with the Lord, and this morning I want to share with each of you something very elementary that He showed me. In Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 3 we read these words “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. “

The fining pot is for removing the impurities from the pure.  So it is in our lives, God has to remove the impure from the pure. From time to time we allow impure things to come into our lives and God must deal with them. How does God do this? He refines in many ways. He may use the Bible, as we read He drives His Word into our heart and drives out those impurities.  He may use the place of Worship to point out the impurities that have settled in. He may use our Prayer time as He speaks to our heart and then sometimes He may use other people but whatever method He chooses His goal is to remove that which will keep us from shining for Him. Then we read about the furnace, we are told that the furnace is for gold. The furnace not only removes the impurities but it also brings out the real; in other words the furnace shows what is real. We read of the furnace in the lives of men in the Bible. We are told about a man by the name of Job. All is well but then he is placed into the furnace and when we come to the end of the book of Job we see and learn from his gold refining moments. We read of a man named Joseph and of Daniel, the heat of the furnace proved what they were made of. In the lives of Peter and Thomas it took the fining pot to remove the impurities. It all boils down to “If we confess He’s faithful to forgive.”

John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The question is do we want to shine?

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.