Take away the dross from the silver,
and there shall come forth a vessel for the refiner.
Proverbs 25:4
Dross in the Bible is often referred to
as the waste matter on silver,
that build up that hides the beauty
of its original or real object
God referred to Israel as dross at times
when speaking to the whole nation
There were times when He was very disappointed with them
He referred to false prophets as dross
God hated dross and saw it and pointed it out
when others could not see it
Depending on which version you read,
this waste can be called: scum,
deposit, filth, corruption,
corrosion, uncleanness, rust,
impurity, filthiness, molten,
all of which are worthless
Meaningless,
worthless,
inhibiting his beauty in His people
It would be like having cloudy glass
in a lamp that should distribute radiant light
We want to allow the Lord to clean the dross in us, in our lives,
that dross which might inhibit our service to Him
or our witness for Him
That process might be less than comfortable
Seeing ourselves through our eyes
and then again through God’s eyes might be vastly different
This is not about how other people see you,
although oftentimes people can give us our reflection
We have to be careful with that
Just because someone judges us
or notices and points out our faults,
sees something in us that may not be pleasing,
does not mean that is from God or even partially from God
While people can be helpful in pointing out our filthiness,
Satan is the accuser of the brethren
The difference is:
that when God reveals something to you,
it is not to condemn you
It is to reveal something that when He cleanses or changes it,
you will be closer to Him minus the hindrance that is gone
He always offers a way for you to remedy the situation
or the strength you need to overcome
The best way to learn is
to take concerns to the throne of God
and be as ready as you can to hear
and honestly reflect on
what has been given to you from others
or a revealing from the Holy Spirit
Jesus will help you sort it out
He has His special ways of communicating with us
and teaching us if we are open to Him
Paul struggled with imperfections as we all do
While that is no excuse, it is also a part of being human
and while we can strive to be perfect in Him,
in our fleshly bodies, we will always struggle with the flesh
There is no perfect human being that ever lived aside from Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Soon Coming King
Seeing our own hearts can sometimes be very ugly,
so much so, that we want to look away,
even ignore those things
Certain revelations about how God sees our hearts
can take a long time to completely clean out, even years
The important thing is to not concentrate on what or how,
but remain open and ask Jesus to show us,
to purge us,
to cleanse us,
to remove that dross from within us,
from every hidden corner of our hearts,
so that our vessels or temples are as clean as they can be
to demonstrate His love and His word in our lives
and that we can more beautifully radiate Him
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord;
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah 23:29