I've seen a few reports about the Queen's jubilee in England. Lots of ceremonial celebrations. I always imagine what it would be like if someone showed up before the dirtiest person in England and said they were to be presented before the Queen. So much effort would go into cleaning up that person, making them presentable. It's no small feat, but that's what must be done so they can be presented, due to the gulf existing between the height of royalty and someone covered in filth.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the presence of God. We long for it, and yet at the core, it's so different than we are. We are sinful and broken, and God is purity and perfection. Emotionally, we bounce all over the place, and often find ourselves in conflict, and yet God is pure love, consistent faithfulness. We are unworthy of God's love, and such efforts must be made to make us worthy. When we talk about a refiner's fire, we're talking about putting precious metals in the hottest part of the fire to burn out impurities. The precious metals look great when they're out of the fire, and we all love to see glass when it's blown artistically, but none of us would joyfully welcome being placed into the midst of a blazing furnace or a refiner's fire -- the heat would be so intense, we fear getting destroyed.
And so what a gift it is that Jesus Christ willingly steps into the depths of the furnace, into the central core of the refiner's fire, and bears all the heat, so that we don't have to. How amazing is that -- we could have been consumed, but Christ endures that so that we don't have to. Christ makes us worthy by accepting the heat of the flames, and we receive the reward he deserves, and it's given as a gift.....
How incredible is that??? We are converted from the depths of unworthiness to the heights of heaven, made worthy to sit before God in all of God's perfection....
It's simply amazing...
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