On a Personal Note – Refine.

Each week, I’ll share personal reflections from my own time with God, our Heavenly Father. On a Personal Note is where I’ll highlight takeaways and implications for walking with the Lord.

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. ²⁴ Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT

This season, one word has been resonating in my spirit.

Refine.

A quick search of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and you’ll find several definitions of the verb like “to free from impurities or unwanted materials” “to improve or perfect by pruning or polishing” or my favorite “to become pure or perfected.” As I journey through my walk with God, I realized that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are saying yes to being refined for the rest of our lives.

Refining is a process.

As Believers, we acknowledge that we are sinners and that Jesus died for our sins. He is our Savior. Yet, we have to live like He is our Lord, meaning He is our ruler. Any person under an authoritative figure knows, they give us rules and parameters. Think of your work environment. When you’re hired, you have a supervisor with a specific set of rules. You can’t just do whatever you want to do and reap all of the benefits of being employed.

Our Christian walk has parameters and the only way to know them is by reading the word of God. The Bible is our guide. It is the basis on which we rebuild our new foundation in Christ. I say rebuild because there are sections of our lives that we have built in our own power. Decisions that we’ve made using our own logic. Feelings of guilt or shame that we’ve stashed away. Situations that we think are hopeless. It is in those very areas that God’s word and the Holy Spirit convict and counsel us to walk forward in renewed freedom and righteousness.

The refining of our Creator unearths… purifies…, and places us in better positioning to do all that He has called us to do.

If we are going to do all that God has called us to do, we have to fully submit to the refining.

As we study the word of God, we should walk away with practical steps for our life. My takeaway – When we dive deeply into the Bible and listen to the nudges of the Spirit, we place ourselves in a position to be refined.

What about you? What’s your takeaway? How will you walk it out in your daily life?