Refine Me

John 3:25-28  Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified ~ behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am no the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'

Father, I know first hand how loyalty to a person and not You is a distortion of faith.  And to think that being made pure can be achieved from anyone but You is insanity.  The gift of baptism comes from You.  The gift of purification comes from You as the refining fire that burns off what is not pure.  But they didn't get that.  They took what was made symbolically clean and expected it to be applied to the deepest, darkest parts of their hearts and souls.  Father, help me yield to Your cleansing process, the one that rids me of ugliness, judgement, and self-righteousness.  Help me be an image of You, refined by Your hand, not the words or teaching of someone created in Your image.  Amen.