FRIDAY, JUNE 9, SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS - PURITY

 FRIDAY JUNE 9, 2023 - SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS AND IVORY SOAP

Happy Friday!!!  On Fridays, I write about spiritual things - and today I’m writing about Ivory Soap!!!

(Huh?)

Ivory soap is a product of Procter and Gamble - a large company with lots of products.  As a kid, Ivory soap was widely advertised as 99 and 44 percent pure.  

That claim (or reality) has been floating in my mind.  99.44% pure!!!  Less than 1% impurities.  What is “Pure” - “free of any contamination.”  The online dictionary gives an example “"the pure, clear waters of Montana".  But, somehow I can’t quite picture the rivers and streams of Montana as being perfectly pure.

A lot of Montana streams come from melting snow.  But, ““Snow contains droplets that will hold onto pieces of dust, tiny bacteria, or other things floating in the air,” Fairbanks says. The makeup of snow will be influenced by what's happening in the atmosphere and that includes impurities like aerosol particles, nutrients, and pollutants.”

Then the streams run down over rocks and river beds.  Deer, bear, elk, beavers, and cows eliminate their body wastes, and rain and snow eventually wash some of those wastes into the streams.  (If you are downstream from a herd of cattle, you might not want to drink the water from a stream).

Even gold isn’t quite pure.  If gold is too pure, it becomes too soft to be made into jewelry.  

Malachi 3:2-3 says “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”

A refiner's fire melts down a metal, such as gold or silver, for purification purposes. Once a metal is in its melted-down state, the dross (impurities) in the metal rises to the top and is then removed from the metal before it cools. 

I’m thinking of gold. A gold-digging project brings ore out of the earth.  

“Smelting gold is accomplished by using high pressure, heat, and various chemicals to break down the ore and melt the gold to separate it from the impurities. The gold must be heated to an excess of 1046 degrees Celsius or 2150 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“Most of it is bound in ores of gold: On average, 1 gram of gold is present in 1 ton of gold ore. The precious metal is extracted from the rock with chemicals before processing it further.”

WHAT?  1 single lonely gram of gold is in a TON of ore!!!  No wonder that Gold is expensive!!!  

(I’m picturing gnarly old prospectors digging mines and panning rivers to get gold).

*****

So, back to Malachi 3:2-3 “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”

God will purify me. Maybe He won’t heat me to 2150 degrees Fahrenheit - but somehow God WILL purify me.  I am NOT pure!!  (and, sorry to say, you probably are NOT pure either!!!)

Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.  

“ALL” - (and especially me - since I “kind of” know myself) have sinned.  (Karen, remember that pencil you took once back in graduate school - you’re a thief!!!  But, I can rationalize it - I had filled out a form and somehow, the pencil ended up in my materials.  I wasn’t intending to steal it!!)

****

Hold it, I only stole a pencil, I’ve heard of people who have killed multiple people - real mean, real impure!!!  Doesn’t God treat the real bad people differently than “little old me”?

It sure sounds like God is going to refine me, you, and even those serial killers - in a refiner’s fire!!!

He doesn’t want 99.44% pure.  He wants 100% pure.  

But, I know how He purifies us - not in a 2150-degree oven, but with one drop - one tiny drop of blood.  “He will wash away our sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus”.

I trust in God’s love and mercy.  “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner (who stole a pencil once)”

(Of course, I have many additional flaws and impurities than taking (stealing) a pencil.  I’m probably not even close to Ivory Soap - which is 99.44% pure.  I’m maybe 0.01% pure - and somehow God still loves and forgives me (and purifies me!!!)

*****

God, mold me and make me like unto you!!!

LOVE WINS
LOVE PURIFIES
LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, JUNE 9, 2023

Joke:  The police found a body behind Target the other day, covered in Captain Crunch; then they found a lady behind the Shell station, covered in Raisin Bran, and then a man behind Walmart covered in Frosted Flakes.  They suspect it is a cereal killer.