Advent
December 4, 2018
Scripture Reading: Malachi 3:1-4
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. –Malachi 3:2b-4
When I traveled to Alaska several years ago, I visited a gold mine where tourists, for a price, were invited to pan for gold in water that contained the waste from the mine. We could keep any gold we shifted from the debris. I got just enough to put in a tiny crystal necklace, for a price, to take home as a keepsake.
Gold and silver must be removed from the bits of other elements that time forged into the rocks from which these precious metals are extracted. In the song, Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World, there is a line that states that Jesus sees God’s children as precious in his sight. Our souls too get cluttered with the elements of the world that tarnish our ability to serve God in our fullest. We too must be cleansed of that which distracts from our being fully the people God created us to be. We must work at bringing all our gifts of time, talent, and treasure to God assuring that they are given in righteousness.
Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said: No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24)
As we await the arrival of God Incarnate in this time of Advent, Malachi reminds us that all our offerings to God must be in alignment with God’s righteousness/justice if it is to be pleasing to God.
Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of all that gets in the way of our being in right alignment with you. Amen,