Turning up the Heat

When there is change in our lives, there is always a bi-product, when God turns up the heat, there will be junk that will rise to the surface. In crisis, we always react in a manner that speaks to the truth of who we are on the inside. There is nothing like a little heat to bring out the true nature of the people around us-and more importantly, ourselves.

Have you ever found yourself responding to a situation and been surprised by your response? Perhaps you go back to an old coping mechanism. Addicts talk alot about this, people who are emotional eaters can be 'in victory' for years and then BAM, a crisis hits and they are finding all the Ice Cream in the city. We talked yesterday about the recurring challenges in our lives, and how we can seem to go through something similar over and over again.

I am in the process of watching a DVD series called "Dream to Destiny" by Robert Norris. In it he talks about the refining process. When they are refining metal-lets say gold- they heat it, the junk rises to the top, they scrape it off, and they they raise the heat. This process gradually makes the gold more and more pure.

The Bible talks about the "refining Fire" and how God wants to purify us with His fire. Here are 2 different versions of Proverbs 17:3:
3 As silver in a crucible and gold in a pan, so our lives are assayed by God. The Message
3The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tries the hearts. Amplified Bible

So often in crisis or as we are going through the refining process, all we can see is the junk that rises to the surface. We get caught up in the fact that we have been 'around this mountain' so many times, and 'how come I haven't figured this out yet?'. We all have done it. I think that it would be tough not to focus on the junk. We are all people who want to be following after Christ, and doing good things for God. The problem is, sometimes we not only get side-tracked by the junk that surfaces, we give into it, or worse we stuff it back down.

Think of the dieter that we talked about earlier. A crisis has just hit, she is scarfing down a litre of ice cream right out of the carton. She stops and realizes what she is doing. There are, in that moment, 3 common reactions. 1) she sees the behaviour for what it is, pushes away the ice cream, and chooses a better response. 2) she questions why she is in that response again, bemoans her faith and wonders what she has been learning for the past years and continues eating as she tries to figure it out. 3) She decides that she isn't that great a Christian afterall, that she will never conquer this issue, and moves on from ice cream to Pizza.

It doesn't matter the struggle we face or how long since we have been walking in victory, there will always be things that will rise to the top. You can replace the eating of ice cream with smoking, drinking, excessive cleaning, shopping... really any struggle that you have in your life.

Here is the biggest key..... that stuff that rises to the top?? The junk that you are so horrified still exists in your life? God is waiting for it to surface, and when it does, He gets a great big smile on His face because it means that the junk is exposed to His GRACE. If we don't stuff it back down, if we wait, He comes along, just like in the refinery, and scrapes off the junk, and we are better for it.

Don't be afraid of the junk that surfaces, it is all part of the process. God knows exactly what He is doing, and exactly what is hiding in the deepest corners of each heart.. espcially mine.