But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. They they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Malachi 3:2-3 HCSB
I recently got some grease on my jeans. To make sure the grease came out in the wash, I pretreated the spot with a stain remover. I sprayed it on the spot and then worked it into the fabric before placing the jeans in the washer. Today, with modern technology we have ways to get stains out of our clothes. In Malachi’s day a cleansing lye, a strong soap, was used to get clothes clean.
The sin in our lives is like dirty spots on our clothes. Our sins are impurities that separate us from a Holy God and hurt our witness to others. Many times God allows us to go through a purification or cleansing process to refine us and make us more like His Son, Jesus Christ. As we are purified by God, we become a reflection of His holiness. The Levites needed to be cleaned and purified so they could properly serve as the priests and present offerings to the Lord.
Challenge: Are you open to God’s purification process in your life so others might see Jesus in your life? Ask God to clean up your act and make you more like Jesus in everything you say and do.