Malachi 3:16-18 - Then those who feared
and loved the Lord spoke often of him to each other. And he had a Book of
Remembrance drawn up in which he recorded the names of those who feared him and
loved to think about him. “They shall be mine,” says the Lord Almighty,
“in that day when I make up my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares an
obedient and dutiful son. Then you will see the difference between God’s
treatment of good men and bad, between those who serve him and those who don’t.
Malachi continues his words of prophecy with the foretelling
of John the Baptist and the Messiah. He
adds a few rebukes about robbing God by not giving him the tithes he was
due. The he reminds them about how God
hates pride and arrogance…how it changes our attitude and makes us less humble.
He finishes his chapter with a reminder of how it will be at the end of the
story….how God will collect all the jewels he has been working on…how they will
be spared when all men are judged in the end.
Jewels are just rough stones when they are found. They are
covered in dirt….crazy sizes and shapes.
They are usually buried deep within the earth…where God uses the
pressure of that place and heat from the core of the earth over many years to
form the crystals that make them so special. They sometimes have other things
attached to them that need to be separated from the pureness of the element
that makes them a rare gem.
Even after God finds us and cleans us up…..separates us from
all the mess in our lives that made us sinners…we need to be cut…polished….and shaped
into a form that will fit perfectly in the setting that he made special for us
when we were born. God wants all of the beauty inside us to shine as bright as
it can…so others will see the maker of his jewel.
What a great reminder and picture of how God is constantly
working on the raw person he created. We
pick up so much stuff and become impure….so that he has to wash us clean. It’s
not always easy to withstand the pressure and heat of the changes he needs to
make in our lives…but if we allow him full control…let him chip away all the
sharp edges...he will change us into a perfect gem…a jewel that will be able to
share what he has done in our lives.
Father…thank you for the reminder that we are just raw
stones in your hands. Forgive me for the
times that I ran away from the table where you were working on me…cause I
thought the pain was too great. Help me
to look forward to the time I spend with you…so I can see the benefits and
blessings that will come from the cutting and polishing you do in my life. Amen.
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