May 15, 2023
Melissa Valerio
My 6th grade science teacher was very…… interesting. She taught well, but always had an eccentric side that bordered on insanity. Like the one time she wanted to teach us the process of purification by condensation. She said that any liquid could be turned into purified water by evaporation and condensation. So, we experimented with our little glass flasks that we would boil water in, then watched the steam collect in a tube which eventually dripped into a separate container. And there you had it. Purified water.
“Any liquid?” asked my classmate, Adam. “Yes, any liquid” Mrs. Science Teacher responded. “Really? Even pee?” Adam giggled. “Even pee” she answered. And to everyone’s horror, she told him to go collect some urine and bring it back for the experiment. Did I mention borderline insanity? So, Adam returned a few minutes later with the flask full of urine, and wouldn’t you know it, Mrs. Science Teacher started boiling the urine and collecting the evaporated droplets. Ok, so if the science experiment stopped here, we would have all understood the lesson and had a great laugh and probably talked about it for the rest of the year. BUT NO, she wanted us talking about it for the rest of our lives, so what does she do with the collected purified water straight from Adam’s bladder??? She DRANK IT.
Let’s all stop here and thank the Lord that the purification process He puts us through isn’t as disgusting as that experiment. Yet, it can be just as painful, if not more. That’s because His refining process involves discipline that none of us like and most of us wouldn’t volunteer for. But it is so necessary for our holiness. He does this out of love and a desire to make us more like Him. Hebrews 12:7-11 offers some encouragement in this area “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness. And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (LSB) His heart is to share His holiness with us. But the only way to holiness is to endure the sanctification process He puts us through. That means allowing Him to remove the things in our lives that stand against His truth and ways. It means enduring the consequences of our actions that we made apart from Him. It means suffering without the comforts that we’re used to, to allow for God to do a new thing in our lives. Purification is not fun, and it is not quick. But it is so greatly beneficial to our spiritual growth. Praise God because He considers us sons and daughters! Now isn’t that something worth talking about for the rest of our lives??
Prayer: Father in Heaven, thank You for considering us Your children. Because You love us so deeply and cannot bear to watch us remain in our current condition, You initiate the purification process in us. You desire to make us more like You, and we are so thankful for that gift. We acknowledge our need for You and ask that You remove the impurities in our lives and refine our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Action: God wants us to love Him more than anything else in this world. The first step to sanctification is to realize where our treasure is. What holds the most weight in your heart? Identify what captivates you the most. If it’s anything but the Lord, it has become an idol. Other things in this life aren’t necessarily bad (like our spouses, children, possessions, career, money) but if they consume the biggest area of our hearts, then they become competition for the Lord. These are the areas in our heart that He will start to purify first. If we will start shifting things around in our hearts to make Him the priority, then He won’t need to do it. Cooperating with Him means less pain and less mess in the long run.