Shiny?
Zechariah 13:9 KJV
(9) And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
There was a time in our not too distant past when discovering gold in the mountains of the West caused a great rush of those seeking to become rich. While some were successful, there were far more that ended up putting a lot of effort into a venture that yielded very little value. It took more than just an eye for the shiny to obtain the substance of worth, and while many rocks out there that might appear to be pretty, they would never be able to stand the test of fire. Many novices were taken in by a substance call iron pyrite. It was quickly and readily seen lying in river bottoms where it could be collected in large amounts. I remember an episode of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ where Laura and Jonah spend a great deal of time and effort collecting a large cache of this from a stream, while carefully trying to preserve the secrecy of their discovery. They finally loaded it all up on a cart and took it with great excitement and anticipation to the bank to deposit for what they expected to be an incredible price. At first glance, however, the banker knew that their ‘treasure’ was worth no more than the sand from which it had been extracted. While their efforts had been notable, their lack of understanding and wisdom with regard to gold had left them with no value at all for their piled up ‘treasure’. They had learned the difficult lesson that it would not necessarily be the bright and noticed that would test positive in the fire, but more often the less obvious and even possibly dull in appearance.
All around us, surely more today than at any time in history, there is an extreme amount of enticing and shining ‘gold’ on display. It is most impressive to look at, and there is even a certain amount of gratification in wearing it around. The vast majority of this gold, however, is ‘fool’s gold’, the kind that will be melted off when the heat of life is applied. Showing up in the form of sharply discounted consumer items, dressed up and well spoken leadership or companionship, mood and perception altering substances, engaging means of entertainment such as movies, sports and video games, and status enhancing occupations, they sparkle and compel to come experience and possess the treasure they appear to be. There is, though, a time coming that will reveal their true substance, when the temperature rises and they are proven to be real or not. All the time and effort devoted to their promise of fulfillment will be shown to be of real value or of no worth at all. In the end it won’t just be those who’ve been able to notice and obtain the shiny and sparkly stuff that are going to remain prosperous. It will be those who have learned to be drawn to what might not initially flash the most or bang the loudest, but last the most in the blaze of the fire.
Today we’re all on a prospecting venture that will either yield a pure, heat resistant substance before the refiner’s fire or meaningless run-off. The more the real is known the more quickly the ‘fool’s’ stuff will be discarded as wisdom and understanding guide towards the way of eternal prosperity and treasure in Christ. The time and effort given to acquiring the gift of life in Him may displace many of those meaningless shiny items that used to occupy our past, but when all else has been burned up or melted off, pure and enhanced in value will remain all that has been stored up in Him. The way we’ve chosen today will be proven in the end- pure or shiny junk?
Job 23:10 KJV
(10) But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
