A young man happened upon a silversmith who refined silver and gold from raw materials, sitting in front of his fire. “Why do you heat the metal?” he asked?
The Refiner answered, “In order to make precious silver I have to remove all the impurities that make it worth less than it really is.” The young man thought about his own life and how one time of fiery suffering or another was required to remove some of the ‘junk’ in his own life.
“Why do you sit while you work?” inquired the visitor?
The Refiner replied, “I have to watch the fire closely. Too little heat and the impurities will not be removed; too much heat and the precious metal will be destroyed and made worthless.” The young man reflected how his life of comfort had brought a sense of complacency that led him to abandon his dreams, settling instead for a humdrum life. But he had also come through painful fiery times with character and strength that he would not have found elsewhere.
Then the young man asked The Refiner, “How do you know when the silver is at the right temperature?”
The Refiner smiled and answered, “I know the purifying is complete when I can see my reflection in the silver.”
PURIFIED
Be honest. Do you have any bad habits that are holding you back from completing your purpose? Do you suffer from bouts of laziness? Are you a procrastinator? Are you dealing with an addiction? Are you hanging around unproductive and unreliable people? Do you have poor eating habits? What purification process do you need to undergo in order to advance to the next level?
When we are at a restaurant we want the chefs and wait staff to have clean hands. We don’t want to risk putting impure elements in our food or in our bodies. Just like tainted food has the potential to cause us a tumultuous or painful digestion, impure elements in our lives, whether they be people or issues, can cause us to have a tumultuous path towards the fulfillment of our purpose. A careful examination will allow us to see what areas of our lives need to be purified.
PRECIOUS
Do you know how precious you are? Do you value yourself? Do you value this life that you get to live? Do you value your health? Do you value your purpose? Most people protect the people and things that they value. Some don’t know their value because they don’t know the One who has assigned value to everyone. Nothing determines its own value. A merchant selling a table assigns a value to the table and shoppers decide if they agree with that value. A five-dollar bill has its value assigned by the U.S. government. The question then is who assigns value to humans? To know your value you can look at the price that was paid for your life. “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20). A God of infinite wealth chose to pay for your life with His life. That act proved that our value is enormously great and that our lives must have meaning. If our lives are precious we should take care to value the purpose for which we have life.
PURPOSED
A person attempting to live a pure lifestyle, unrestrained by the immaturity of some and lunacy of others and unhindered by worldly vices, who has realized their value should have a desire to live a purpose-filled life. Having a purpose-filled life doesn’t mean you wake up one day and magically find yourself living your most fulfilled life. It means that you submit to the process. It means that you desire to be refined and that you know your value. Tony Robbins said, “people who succeed at the highest level are not lucky; they’re doing something differently than everyone else.” Purpose is the springboard for action. As we go through life it does us well to remember that we may spend most of our lives building on the foundation of purpose but as long as we submit to the process of refinement we will build something that will bless us and others for years to come.