Take Away the Dross
Today’s Verse:
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. ~Proverbs 25:4
If you are in possession of a precious metal such as silver or gold, it is very important that your metal is 100% free of contaminants that will lessen the value of it. In the old days, business transactions would be done using weights and measures for the weighing of metals and other items used for buying and selling. Dross in silver or gold could make it appear heavier than it really was worth. Dross in the eye of the beholder made the gold or silver less desirable for ownership. Everyone’s goal would be to have gold or silver free of dross. Dross is used in the Bible to describe “stuff” that makes a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ lose his value.
There is the recognition.
Dross is the scum that accumulates in metal due to oxidation. Dross is considered refuse and waste matter in metal. Dross that is visible to the eye will make the metal unacceptable for trade or other uses. Dross is sometimes so embedded in the metal that it cannot be chipped away without disintegrating the metal. Dross is a picture of sin in the life of a Christian. It is sin that has accumulated over time. It is sin that a Christian has allowed in his life and has not taken the necessary steps of dealing with.
There is ruin.
Dross makes a precious metal less in value or worthless. Dross makes a precious metal lose its luster. Dross found in silver and gold is disheartening to the owner. It makes silver and gold unacceptable in their usefulness. In the same way, sin in the life of a Christian makes a disciple of the Lord lose his usefulness and value. He is unable to shine his light in darkness due to darkness being inside of him! He becomes unfit for the Lord to use. His prayers cannot be answered. His person and integrity are under scrutiny and question. He is ruined because of the defiling characteristic of sin.
There is the refining.
There is only one way that dross is removed from silver and gold. It needs to be placed in a refining furnace and, there, under intense fire and heat, melted and burned away. “As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you” (Ezekiel 22:20). The refiner’s fire is the only way of removing dross and making a metal pure again. God deals with unconfessed sin by placing His erring child in the intense heat and refining fire of chastening and trial. The smelting fire reduces the one being chastened into a form where the impurities are evident on the top of the liquid metal and then blown off. It is painful but transformational. God calls this the trial of your faith, which is more precious than gold which perisheth.
There is the removal of the dross.
Once dross is removed, “there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.” The silver or gold has regained its luster and value. It is no longer less or worthless in value. It is fit for trading and other usages. In the same way, God uses the refining fires of chastening and trials to burn away the dross so that His child can be useful for His glory. God wants our lives to be vessels for the finer!
Take inventory of your life this morning. Has sin accumulated in your life? Are you ignoring things in your life that God wants you to confess and forsake? Remember, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness that is confessed and forsaken. Don’t settle for less than best!
Have a purifying God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Joshua 12-15