Refining Words Introduction
“The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on earth, refined seven times.” Psalm 12:6
In her book, The Art of the Soul, Joy Sawyer notes that, “If faith, hope and love are connected to one another, then faith—your ability to trust what you cannot see—ties directly into your ability to hope. And those who look like Jesus love and serve and give like he did.”
However she also notes that there is the possibility of living with a hardened, calcified imagination, which leads to believing we have faith when in reality we have only an illusion of faith. Jesus broke through all the illusions about God when He willingly went to the cross. As God’s spoken Word He brought new light and new perceptions to all the written words already promised.
Yet it takes a while to recognize and accept changes. We often have to sift through words many times to truly ‘see’ them. But when we do, they have the potential to burn in our hearts as they did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they heard Jesus explain the scriptures. We have come through another season of Lent, of listening, of coming to the celebration of God’s sacrificial gift.
Now in this next devotional sequence, reading the Book of John, we’ll look at the new hope and faith and love that Jesus shared through the Cross, and listen for the words that burn in our hearts. I hope you will share yours with me.
“Dressing for spiritual battle should be made out of the natural fibers of our being.” Joy Sawyer
WOVEN
Woven into all creation,
with breath or without,
threads of light seen,
unseen, burn life-
existence into being.
Internal lamp
empowers against darkness,
each known intimately;
inside out, fashioned
by love’s design.
John 1:1-5
