Beneficial Meltdown

Read Proverbs 17

Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

Proverbs 17:3

Impurities cannot be removed from silver and gold until the costly metals have been melted. Heat causes the liquid state that allows the impurities to rise to the surface, where they can be skimmed off. When a precious metal has been purified, tried and tested are some of the terms used to describe it.

So, how does God test a heart? He melts it. He allows it to suffer unprovoked difficulties, as well as the consequences of poor decisions, in order to bring “heat” into our lives.

The smelting process provides an excellent illustration of the word repentance. Repentant people have a molten heart. Repentance brings the impurities of the heart to the surface where they can be confessed and burned away by forgiveness. At the same time, a molten heart can be re-formed. A repentant attitude describes people whose central motivations reach a state that allows God to continually reshape them so they will be useful for God’s kingdom. Effective repentance eventually leads to humility. Genuine humility describes a person continually willing to be cleansed and reshaped by God.

A WORD FOR TODAY

Welcome the heat.

Dear Lord, I give you permission to melt down those parts of my heart that are hard, so that I can be more purely yours.