Polished

So, I sat down at the computer tonight with a pulling desire to write. Maybe I am missing school a little too much. Regardless, I felt the need to get out some thoughts. So without further ado...
I received a book for Christmas entitled The Loveliness of Christ. This is a small book written by the Scottish Theologian, Samuel Rutherford. This book has already become one of my favorites. It consists of little excerpts from the letters of this great man. While the old English is a times a bit laborious to overcome, the reward for a little patient reading is quite great. Many of these quotes have struck me as quite profound. (E.g. "I have little, little of him; yet I long for more.""O! What I owe to the file, to the hammer, to the furnace of my Lord Jesus!")

"It's the Lord's kindness that He will take the scum off us in the fire. Who knows how needful winnowing is to us, and what dross we must want ere we enter into the kingdom of God? So narrow is the entry into heaven, that our knots, our bunches and lumps of pride, and self-love, and idol-love, and world-love must be hammered off us, that we may throng in, stooping low, and creeping through that narrow and thorny entry."

Certainly this was the most convicting of the passages I have read so far. Too often I find myself desiring to see the present affliction removed as quickly as possible. Rather, we should embrace our trials knowing that the Lord is using them to further polish us for His kingdom.