Skimming Slag

Have you ever wondered what God might be up to in the chaos of your life?  You can be certain that God doesn’t waste a moment of your life.  You are always in His workshop being made into the image of His Son.  It is so easy to doubt God in the hard times and even easier to forget about Him in the good times, but He never doubts you or forgets about you.  You can take comfort in that promise.  If we loose our faith in God it doesn’t mean that He has become unfaithful to you.  2 Timothy 2:13 says, If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is. 

So why does it feel as if God has become unfaithful to us at times?  Why is that we doubt that God even knows our names in the fear and madness of our life?  We doubt because we cannot see Him in action.  The reality is that God is always in action in our lives and on our behalf.

As God is working on us we must understand that there are things in our life that God wants to remove. Those impurities that keep us from reaching our full potential in Him.  So what does God do?  He removes the pollution in the uncomfortable moments of our lives.  Even when we doubt Him because of our pain He is still at work.

I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all your impurities. Isaiah 1:25.

“Skimming Slag” is actually a silversmith term that means removing the leftover waste from a precious metal after it is melted down. The Message says it this way, “I will purge the junk from your life and clean you up.” There is a  movement right now in our churches that says, “Feel good and stay  positive.” And although God is all about staying positive it doesn't mean that God doesn't use circumstances in our life or take us through seasons of our life to purify and purge us of the things that do not bring glory to His name. 

And if we trust in God’s plan for our life then we must trust in His methods.  In other words we cannot have the Lemonade without the lemons or the rainbow without the rain.

We tend to bristle at the idea of God wanting to make major adjustments and changes in our lives but He always has a purpose in it. And that purpose is to refine His children into pure gold. Jesus tells in John 15 that the Father cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit and prunes those branches that do bear fruit so that they will bear even more fruit.  The reason He cuts off those branches that produce no fruit is because those branches are not productive and can actually infect the other branches from producing any fruit. Spiritually speaking these branches are dead weight that are usually part of the problem rather than the solution. 

 Let me ask you a question.  Are you a dead branch that hinders the growth of the other branches or are you a branch that the Master Gardener is slowing pruning and cultivating into a fruit bearing machine?  In other words, are you apart of the problem or part of the solution? 

Jesus wants us all to be alive branches with the Father’s hand slowly at work in our hearts.  Alive branches bring glory to the Father. Dead ones don't!  Trust His heart as He prunes.

Never are you more close to the master gardener when He is pruning you into His image. 

Philippians 1:6 says, And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Let Him continue skimming your slag and be certain that He is continuing His work in you even when it’s painful.  You are never alone in the process because God is always faithful.  He cannot and will not deny Himself.