RTW June 29
The Heat Is On
Something New
I will melt you down and skim off the slag. I will remove all your impurities.
Isaiah 1:25b
My Takeaways
Something Old
Removing the impurities in our life is painful, but necessary in order to live out God’s purpose.
God’s job- “I”
- He will bring about the discipline.
- He will remove the impurities-the parts of our life that aren’t pleasing to Him.
Our job –
- Surrender to His power-let the work begin, because I can’t do it myself
- Trust His power-the pain will have purpose, He knows what is best for me
- Believe His power- He will take my surrender and make all things better
Something New
The impurities can’t be found without the heat. {Take a deep breath on that one.}
Something to Do
Take the heat, so I become as pure as gold.
1 Peter 1:6-7
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (NLT)
My Takeaways: Melt Me Down
Something Old: The song of the vineyard in chapter 5:1-7 is a very sad one. God loved Israel. He expected them to bear fruit. Well they certainly did bear fruit, but it wasn’t the good kind, it was bad. Notice verses 8-25. Using the analogy of a vineyard, Isaiah describes the Lord’s love for Israel and their response to His love.
The vineyard has every advantage for success, “What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Is. 5:4).Sadly, the vineyard never yields the expected harvest, “He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help” (5:7). God then removes the hedge, breaks down the wall, withdraws the rain, and makes the vineyard a wasteland. Israel blew it. God did everything for them, even send a prophet to warn them, but they were too caught up in themselves to care. Sad song. Real situation. That continues to be read about. This same story could happen to me if I live by my own values rather than God’s. I have to learn from what I have been reading.
Something New: Loved today’s verse. Same verse stuck out for me.
“I will melt you down and skim off the slag. I will remove all your impurities.” -Isaiah 1:25b With impurities, a metal is weak; with less impurities, a metal is stronger.
In my Christian walk, God’s intention for me is to conform me to the image of His Son. This is called sanctification. A refining of my life to “skim off my slag,” my impurities.
While the Lord has done a great work in my heart, through salvation in Christ, I am still trapped in my sinful flesh. But with His help, I can overcome my flesh, work with Him to “skim off my slag,” and become more and more like Christ. Of course
God does not expect me to reach perfection, although that is my aim. He knows that I will never be able to attain perfection until my sanctification process is completed in heaven. However, He does expect me to look more like Him today than I did yesterday.
Something To Do: Work with the Lord in my refinement. Confess those areas that are impurities; surrender them to the Lord and turn away from them. Pursue what I know is pleasing to God; abandon those things that are not. Trust the Lord to take me through the heat of difficulty, so He will skim off my slag.