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 Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:12 pm
Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
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Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:19 pm
Wow. God does some awesome stuff. The God seeing Himself in you was the theme for last week at camp smile
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:41 pm
this is a great story! my fav part where the guy sied "thats easy when i see myself in it"
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:23 pm
dog382 Wow. God does some awesome stuff. The God seeing Himself in you was the theme for last week at camp smile Awesome!
Im going to camp next week. Im pretty excited. 3nodding
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:25 pm
kannon3 this is a great story! my fav part where the guy sied "thats easy when i see myself in it" Mhmm!
My favorite part is how te blacksmith sits there and has to watch it the whole time it's in there, knowing exactly how long it needs to be in there.
Its pretty great!
heart
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:27 pm
This is a powerful portrayal of what God is doing in us. We are all created in the image and likeness of God. Some early church fathers believed that humans ruined the image, or the likeness of God when Adam sinned. I cannot remember which, exactly. However, I believe that the word "image" and "likeness" reinforce the thought of man uniquely reflecting God. It is, if you will, epexegesis, or in other words, when one interprets what one has just said. It is kind of a redefinition or self-interpretation (often signaled by constructions such as "that is to say..."). So, this might be what "image" and "likeness" are used for in Genesis 1:26, 27, when God self-interprets what He just said. Other verses show that we are created in the image of God (see Gen. 5:1, 3; 9:6; 1 Cor. 11:7; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10; Jas. 3:9). Paul writes, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:29). Therefore, we see that we were predestined to be conformed to the "likeness of his Son." Interestingly, Christ Himself is not made in the image of God, but is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4), and the "exact representation" (Heb. 1:3). For those who are interested in what I have experienced to see what it is like for God to wash away our sins, have a cup filled with a drink, soda, coffee, whatever it may be. Then put the cup in the sink and turn on the facet. When you let that water enter the cup, the soda, coffee, or whatever it was that was in there, is being poured out and filled with pure, clean water.
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