When we recently moved and unpacked all of our remaining trinkets, some of which are priceless antiques, it was amazing to note that even after hours of carefully packing and having sat for over 4 yrs in the covering of those supposedly tarnish free papers, many of the silver pieces had indeed tarnished. With a cloth the work began and with intense rubbing slowly the tarnish was removed. Paul says, in Romans 5 that like the tarnish on our silver, our suffering is the tarnish we carry with us as we face the struggles in our walk on this earth. Daily God uses His rubbing tool to polish away our tarnish so that we may reflect Him and His love to the world.
In chapter 6 of Romans, Paul is reminding believers that believers have a precious gift of eternal life but it is not always so wonderfully visible due to our tarnish a.k.a. sin. The Holy Spirit must polish us to remove our tarnish and sometimes He uses suffering. The question before us is: Are we allowing Him to rub away our flaws? We can aid in this by immersing ourselves in the Word daily.
Our gift of eternal life has taken us from death to life through the baptism of regeneration and now our old self is buried with Christ. Paul will reiterate this same thought in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So Paul then asks, why then would you want to exploit God’s grace by resurrecting the old man, the old life, the tarnished man? He who has died to sin should reflect that marvelous sheen that comes with polishing just like your earthly silver.
So then, as eternally secure believers, dead to sin what must we do? We must make 4 choices:
- Not let sin reign 1Co 9:27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.
- Offer ourselves as a gift to God Col 3:12 “clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,”
- See from whence we came—the mirror has no claim on your past life now.
- Polish your gift of eternal life. How? By immersing yourself into the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit polish your tarnish away.
Today, take a look in the mirror, you have been bought with a price far beyond what anyone could fathom to purchase. It was paid by our Beloved Jesus. Treasure it and polish your gift until the world can see your reflection. The world is watching, looking, what do they see when they see you? Are you tarnished or perfectly polished? Is this your prayer? Holy Spirit polish me until I reflect the Savior to the world!