Gold Plated

Wonder of wonders, just when despair parades as the victor, glorious hope rises up to say here I am, not so fast, you have won nothing. I will admit, in darkest days, I am hard pressed to be steadfast in my belief that grace wins every time. When evidence points to doom and gloom, it becomes easy to draft in the tail wind of bleakness. Alas, God has His plans, His mysterious ways. While He never changes, it behooves us, as His created, to change our point of view from the here and now to the big picture window view from the heavenly's. Nothing and more poignantly, no one, gets past God. He sees and knows all, including those who pretend to be solid gold, when they are nothing but cheap counterfeit, chipping bits of gold plating. While some humans endeavour to baffle and befuddle one another to win favour, God can never be tricked or misled. The integrity of the subject, the person being tested for purity, can be established by measuring against His gold standard, Jesus Christ. This stunning reality has me stopped in my writing tracks. We cannot do it Dear Reader, we cannot ever measure up. We are dross, dregs, mineral waste. If you and I were to be melted down, we would be the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal. We are mere imitators of the real thing at the best of times and while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it falls short of having substance, or having worth and value. This reality can cause the ego to go into defensive mode, have us trying  harder, working longer and faster to validate self and establish unique and wonderful autonomy and power. This is a dangerous game to play, when we compare ourselves to God. As we shrink and shrivel in our human earthly form, He remains unchanged, unchangeable, Almighty God. Turning ourselves into our own Gods is a childish endeavour, since at any given moment, you and I can be wiped clean off the earth, forgotten quickly, as though we never were. Despair not, because hope says something to us about who we are and can be when we stop playacting and become the real thing Zechariah 13:9 "This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people', and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'" Is the Lord, your God? Is He refining you for a purpose? Can you tell the difference between your own nonsense, someone else's foolery, and God's Gold Standard? You will never be made more real, Dear One, than when you give your soul to The One from which it came. It is then and only then that you will receive the indwelling of God, the Holy Spirit, Christ in you. He is our Authenticator.