Purifying Silver

When God created man, He created him in His image and likeness. Sin destroyed man’s relationship with God. Man retained God’s image (appearance), but not His likeness (attitude and sinlessness). We are now sinful beings, who, without God’s Holy Spirit in us, have our own desires and passions. So you’re probably thinking, “Okay, Chelsea, how do silver and sin have anything to do with each other?” Well…let me tell you.

Silver is never found in its pure form. There are always other metals and impurities found with the silver. We, humans, are the silver. Sin rules in our lives until we find God…or…it’s more like God finds us. Like a silversmith purifying silver, God molds us more and more into His likeness. How do you purify silver? HEAT! I’m talking about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit! In order for us to be moldable and teachable, there has to be heat…a lot of heat! Okay…so God doesn’t throw us into a boiling cauldron or anything, but He uses trials and tribulations.

“Trials and tribulations?!?! You mean, those are a good thing?!?!” you exclaim. Yes! With silver, the heat causes all the impurities to rise to the surface. The gross stuff on the surface is called dross. God uses the trials and tribulations in our lives to bring the dross (sin issues, wrong attitudes, etc.) to the surface. Problems that we didn’t even know we had come rearing up out of nowhere. I’m not gonna lie…it can be extremely painful, but necessary in order for us to be molded into His likeness.
After the impurities come to the surface, the silversmith then scoops out the dross. Once we’ve taken the issue before the Lord and dealt with it, then God removes it from our lives. Now…this whole process doesn’t only happen once. It happens repeatedly. Over and over again the silversmith will heat up the silver, watch as the dross comes up, scoops away the dross, and starts the whole process over again. As we grow closer to the Lord and as we continue to walk on the path He has put us on, things will come up (sometimes the same things over and over again) and we’ll have to ask God to take it away and purify us.

One person asked a silversmith, “So how do you know when you’re done purifying the silver?” The silversmith responded, “When I look into the silver and can see my face being reflected back, I know I’m done.” When we constantly reflect Christ in our attitudes, what we say, and our actions, God will be done with us (which I’m sorry to say won’t happen until Christ comes back).

The term Christian, originally meaning “little Christ” was first coined in Antioch. People saw believers and they looked like Christ so much in their behaviors and attitudes that they called them little Christs...or Christians. I John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” And Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

God’s teaching me that no matter what happens, no matter the storms I go through, He is my Rock. Every trial I go through is going to strengthen me and make me more like Him, and I can cling to Him in the midst of the fire. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God has a plan and a purpose, even if it’s a little hard to see sometimes. He created us to be like Him and to reflect His glory, and He has called us to share Jesus with all who will listen. They too are lumps are silver that need to be purified.