Potholes or luminescence

Monday December 7^th, Malachi 3: 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. When you refine gold or silver, it requires a bit of heat. In the process of purifying the impurities separate out from the metal and the purity and beauty within can now shine for all the world. When it is our heart, our soul, our life that is refined, it also requires a bit of heat. No one said the life of a follower of God was easy or without difficulties. The desire to walk with God and be a child of God means that eventually we begin to dig down a little deeper in our lives and with God’s help and a lot of prayer pull out and get rid of some of the bigger hunks of junk. Without prayer the difficulties produce only heat and tear up the road to the heart, hence the potholes in our life. With prayer, the heat generated by getting rid of some of the big hunks of junk, also gets the heart, the soul, the self, to glow with the purity of God’s grace shining through. This somewhat cleaner heart, resembling at least in part is what God sees in you and why God loves you. It is also what others see that draws them to a God life of prayer. Our lives tend to display either potholes or luminescence, the difference is all in the prayers.