BFD #1

**Note: The following posts were transferred from my old blog in an effort to preserve my BFDs and continue them. Go team!

NEW SUNDAY TRADITION: Bible Flop Devotion

So I'm going to let my Bible flop open and point randomly to a verse and write about that verse...how fun does this sound??

Proverbs 25:4
Take away the dross* from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel

So, this verse in context is actually about leadership (ie Kings) but I choose to apply it to something else. Us. Duh. Soooo, as you can see by the footnote, dross isn't really something you want in your silver. I'm no silversmith, but it stands to reason that you want your metal to be pure, and the dross is like the gross little flecks of food in your dishwater. Take all that away and BOOM, clean water. Now, for me it is hard to imagine trying to purify dishwater. Think of all the little flecks of enchilada and cookie crumb and milk and soap floating around in that water. Yuck. BUT, it IS possible to do. It would take a lot of work, and would probably require professional water filtration specialists, but it is most definitely doable. I figure silver dross is kind of the same thing, except maybe easier since the dross forms on the surface, so all you have to do is sort of skim that off. The tricky part would be the risk of death by burning. No biggie, though.

So growing up, I heard some verses a lot. Remember, I'm a Lutheran, and Lutherans have kind of fallen away from the Bible in order to distinguish themselves from Evangelical Christians. We still read it and study it, but normally most of the studying is done from the pew on Sundays (we really must change that). ANyways, as you can tell, I am no Biblical expert, BUT there are a few verses that have stuck in my mind over the years. One of them pertains to todays Bible Flop Devotion (We'll just call it the BFD...haha...c'mon people, that's funny).

"But now, LORD, You are our father. We are the clay, and You are our potter. We are the work of Your hands" Isaiah 64:8

So now just insert "hot molten silver" for "clay" and "silversmith" for "potter"

VOILA! We have application. But God can't make shiny silver if He doesn't get rid of the dross, am I right?

SO...what is our dross?

We could say "sin" but that would be too easy. Plus even once we are purged of sin via confession and forgiveness (and for some of us Communion), we'll still sin again because we're freaking idiots. SO obviously God can make us shiny in spite of sin, so the sin isn't the only kind of dross in our lives.

So let's discuss (meaning I'll ask questions and sort of answer them and assume that you are going to answer most of them on your own because I have church in an hour and I need to get ready)

What is standing in between you and God?
-False gods? (ie money, fingernail polish, Husker football...)
-Your own stupid stubbornness?
-Your need to be in complete control of your life?
-Lack of trust in a God who doesn't seem all that involved in your life?
-The questions of the day that say you can't be a Christian if you believe in ______ or if you practice ______ and the denominations who perpetuate this belief?
-The fear that you have to give up your brain in order to believe (false, by the way, you just have to be a free thinker and attend a church where discussion, questions, and exploration of the text is encouraged)

All of the above are issues I personally have had to face and am still facing on a regular basis. The GOOD news (in my opinion, at least) is that I am allowed to be confused and angry and frustrated with the state of things on Earth and even with God. The point is that you FACE your issues. No matter what they are, it's ignoring them and pretending they don't exist that creates the most "dross" in your life. It's not just the things that stand in your way. It's the fact that you leave them there because you're too scared to deal with them. It will be hard, but you are capable of growing in this way. And your faith is going to grow/shrink/shift/change all throughout your life. If you think critically about your faith, though, it will end up making it stronger and more able to withstand the crap that life throws your way. But don't assume you can do it alone...this is usually my mistake. God has to help in the revision process! And if you LET him, I guess...well...you'll be shiny silver and not the dull kind.

Hmm. I think our BFD for the day would be better if I were a Master of the Sacred Page...but alas.
-BS-

P.S. Even shiny silver has to be polished once in a while...

*dross:
1. Waste or impure matter:
2. The scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation.

Disclaimer: if I am being an idiot and you are a Biblical scholar, please don't be mean to me about it. I just took a random verse, a theme, and ran with it because that is what BFDs are all about...