24 Karat

Betty Parker would call me from time to time and ask me to visit. When I would do so, she would share, painfully, about some conflict. She would tell me that she had had a falling out with this person or that. Betty was one of those very sensitive souls who often felt that someone was unhappy with her. And she would assume, almost always, that she was the one at fault, she had done something to offend.

I would listen, I would try to interpret what I thought might be going on, and then I would remind her of the love and grace of Christ, who is about forgiveness, and who taught us to forgive seventy times seven. I would leave thinking that this time the issue had been settled. But in a few months or a year there would be another call and another issue. Betty felt, more often than most, that she created problems for others.

But God has a way of refining us. And His refiner’s fire removes from us all guilt, all shame, all self-concern. His refiner’s fire moves us toward 24 karat, undefiled. I will always count it as one of the high moments of our church’s life that several of us walked with Betty through her hospice days and into her final encounter with Christ. I do not know that I have seen a more complete person than Betty Parker became in her last days. With complete serenity, with total faith, and with unabashed love for her family and for her brothers and sisters in Christ, she prepared us for her death. We did not prepare her; she prepared us. And when she left this life, I saw one who knew forgiveness, knew her gift, knew that what was promised was hers. And it was undefiled. It contained no spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. Undefiled. 24 karat.

The refiner’s fire deals with everything in us that feels guilty, ashamed, and unworthy. Some of us are caught up in the feeling that we are not good enough. Will God accept us like that? Yes. He will. He will. He gives us a gift undefiled. 24 karat.

III

Imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Unfading. Something that will persist, just as beautiful now as it ever was. Something that will defy the tests of time and exposure to the elements. Something that, like gold, is as bright tomorrow as it is today. Gold coins have been found by explorers, uncovered after centuries buried in the dust, and once they are cleaned, they shine like stars in the heavens. Unfading. God has kept an inheritance for you that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, as beautiful as 24-karat gold.

But on the way to giving an unfading gift, the refiner will wash away dust and debris. On the way to recovering unfading gold, the refiner will clean away things that cling to the gold. He will put away that sin that so easily clings to us. He will lay aside every weight, and will turn us toward the prize. An unfading prize.

Mary Knight was a prayer warrior. Mary believed in prayer. She prayed about everything. She prayed about the phone calls she made. She prayed about where to go on her daily walks, asking the Lord to put in her path somebody who needed her. If there was a decision to be made, Mary Knight prayed about it first.