Unrefined

This morning in church service we had a wonderful time of worship. The final song was one I like very much, it's called "Offering" by Paul Baloche.

The chorus of the song goes like this,

I bring an offering of worship to my King
No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing
Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due
O Lord I bring an offering to You
I bring an offering to You.

Our pastor's wife, who is also the head or worship ministry, and who was helping lead worship this morning and began to talk about what we truly bring as an offering to the Lord in times like today. She talked about how it isn't our tithe, it isn't our service in ministry, it isn't even our singing of the song, it's just us. I think she said "little old us," but the concept is clear, the offering we bring to God is just who we are.

As she was speaking I got this vision of the Lord standing and all of us bringing our offering and laying them at His feet. What I saw was us bringing things like coal, and unpolished stones, lumps of stone or clay, blank canvases and the like.

In my mind I saw this pile of "stuff" and thought what value does it have? And I felt the Lord say, "none, until it's in My hands."

Then I thought about what happens to those things in the right circumstances. The coal, under pressure becomes a diamond. The stone after much careful treatment such as heat and pressure becomes a gem stone, precious and beautiful. It requires the steady and trained hand of the sculptor to chisel from the stone and clay a beautiful sculpture. The blank canvas, it is only by the careful time and intention, and attention that a masterpiece is created worthy of display.



So often I know I struggle with the questions and doubts of what could I possibly offer to the Lord? It's in these moments I realize it isn't about what I have, but rather about what the Lord can and chooses to do with it. Just as Moses asked, 'Who am I?" The answer remains that the Lord we serve is the great "I Am."

It is simply ours to be available and willing, to make ourselves an offering. It is the Lord to create the purpose, the value and the beauty. He may use pressure, or heat, He may even use those things that are sharp to chip away that which is not of Him. The process may be long and methodical, tedious even, but of one thing we can be sure, when we are in the hands of the Master, the end result is sure.

I bring an offering of worship to my King
No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing
Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due
O Lord I bring an offering to You
I bring an offering to You.

Lord, I come to you unrefined, but I come willing and available. Make in me a masterpiece, that I may reflect your goodness and your beauty.

"But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
“ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the LORD,
As in the days of old,
As in former years."
Malachi 3:2-4