pure
“He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness… Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day by day.” (Malachi 3:3,8)
Malachi paints a picture of God here as the Refiner. He’s the Spotless One, the Strongest Soap, Cleanser of dirty clothes. He desires upright-ness, wants righteous postures, seeks out purity from the land. People who are ‘fit for God’.
But who is fit for God? Who dare stands before Him and declares him or herself clean, whole, unblemished? Aren’t we broken by this world, too drawn by all that’s offered around us? Aren’t we too dependant on the chains that bind us, the chains that define us?
I long for the day when I can freely and truly say: This world has no hold on me. All this world serves on a platter, all the successes and qualities it is most proud of, has no glory in my eyes. But that’s not so. I am not clean. I am corrupted by lust, by attention, by pride, self-centred and self-consciousness. I can’t stand before Him. His light will make transparent all my iniquities and holes.
It is not by my might or by my strength that I stand before the Holy One. It is he who cleans dirty laundry, he who refines, he who scrubs until we are ‘fit’. It is he who restores the broken-hearted, sets the captives free. He who breaks the hold of the world on our hearts. He who is called Saviour, Redeemer, Recreator.
It is no wonder God loves the poor in spirit, the Brutally Honest Ones, the humble in spirit. Because high or low, important or non-descript, none of us are made pure by our own hands. We all need to be made whole, need to go through the fire. It calls for trust on our father, that the cleansing work He will do is powerful and necessary. But we need not stand ashamed in front of Him. Broken, open, raw, real - but not ashamed or afraid.
Lord, you are the Gracious One. Sin has wrecked us, but You are the Pure One. I am brought low. I’m addicted to lust, to self, to comfort, to this world. By the power of Your name, break it.
Cleanse me Father. Make me whole. Not by might or by power, but by your Spirit. Amen.
