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When a person first turns to God, he begins a renovating process that is never complete until we stand face-to-face with Him. God loves us just as we are, but is not content to leave us this way. He is continually removing the dross from our lives. To remove dross from silver, it needs to be heated to a very high temperature until it melts. The dross (impurities) come to the top and must be skimmed off the top time and again. In days past, the silversmith would know the dross was removed when they could see their face in the silver, due to it's mirror-like properties.
That's what God does. He turns up the heat to bring our imperfections into the open, then He removes them. This process continues throughout our lives until He sees Himself in our lives. Of course, since there is no perfect human on this earth, God continues to transform us until the day we join Him.
I wrote an entry on my site that goes farther with this subject. It also includes a long-overdue cleaning project in our home, and ties the two together. To read the entire story, click here.
There's a test of wisdom and nerve! Even if I knew the order would be rescinded, I doubt I could order that an infant be cut in half! Solomon had not only wisdom, but a strong will also. Those are two traits of a successful leader.
The Temple is also built in this reading. Solomon was wise enough to see that if he wanted the best quality, the best workers for the job should be used. He didn't just stay with the Israelites for this woodworking; he found others with more skill. That's a great lesson for anyone who hires people in the working world. Race doesn't matter. Neither does gender. The best person for the job should be the one to get it, unless you're content to accept second best, of course!
The decoration of the temple continued on. To add to the decorations David had made, Solomon added beautiful brass fixtures. Again we see that second-best is not good enough for God. That's true in our lives also. He demands either perfection or reconciliation. Perfection is not a viable option for us, so He came up with our answer.
That was quite a prayer from Solomon! If you simplify it enough, you'll notice that the prayer mirrors some of the history of the Israelites. "If we turn from you and are captured, then turn back to you with all our hearts, deliver us." That's one example of something God had already done for them. If you want to simplify this further, you could say that he was praying for God's will to be done. So this long and complex prayer can be boiled down to one phrase. "Thy will be done." I'm telling you, those are powerful words!
Solomon reminded the people that they need to be committed to God at this time, and he was definitely setting an example here. God seemed impressed enough to appear before him and renew the vow made with David. The message is pretty straightforward. "Obey Me and prosper. Forsake Me and face disaster."
What was wrong with the towns Solomon gave Hiram? The name given them says they were worthless places, but I don't see any description to back that up.
Apparently these towns were returned to Solomon, for he does some rebuilding in this reading. It sounds like his prosperity is really beginning to show here. The Queen of Sheba came in person to see if all of the stories of Solomon's wisdom were true. This guy was certainly well known in those days.
The wisdom of Solomon is further shown here, as is the praise he gave to the Lord. Solomon was the wisest and perhaps the richest man ever to live, past, present and future. He acknowledged that God must be the focal point of your efforts if they are not to be in vain. What use is a home where there is no love of God? You can go about your life willy-nilly and waste the opportunities you have, or you can live for God and let Him transform your life into something incredible! Why wouldn't you take the latter option?
Fruit is the product of the tree, or in this case, the sign of a God-inspired life. You can tell a tree by its fruit and you can tell a believer by their fruit. Several of the fruits we discussed are mentioned in this reading. So if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the fruit of the Lord must be a sign that this wisdom is growing within you.
Weekly Link
LifeLine Productions is a ministry that I have heard on the radio quite a bit lately. I enjoy their spots enough to seek them out, and their site has all kinds of entertaining scripts for Christian drama and downloads of their radio spots. It's not all free content, so I almost didn't highlight it for this week, but what I did see for free was more than enough for me to keep it in here. Take a few moments to browse their offerings! The drama excerpts are wonderful examples of how a short drama can really help someone in the church take a message and apply it to their own lives. That's really what it's all about, though, isn't it? We need to display Christlike qualities in the world, using the lessons we learn from our churches if we are to be the salt of the Earth.
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