Have you lost your shine?

I bought several jars of cream whose function was to “polish” and “restore” my lovely skin tone (smoothing lines also a plus), however after several weeks I looked the same, wonder why? The jars remained unopened on my powder room table! It only works if you actually USE it! When we ask God to sanctify or cleanse us for His purpose, why are we surprised when we feel roughed up? The jar of cleansing blood is opened, but we have to apply it before we are polished! An unlikely song was running through my mind, it was “A Groovy Kind of Love” by Phil Collins! The line that was stuck in my mind was “When I’m feeling blue all I have to do is take a look at you and then I’m not so blue”. Then the line “He restores my soul“, from Psalm 23 came right along with it. Odd. We all have certain triggers that we know for sure, will either make us feel better, or push us into the doldrums of depression. Funny that sometimes you actually choose to be depressed, you turn on that old song, you know the one, read an old letter or look longingly at a picture from the past. Choosing to be happy is not the easy path, but it is the one that leads you out of “the pit”. Why do we do it to ourselves? Reading the Psalms you can see the pattern the writer follows, from deep despair to giving God the “sacrifice of thanksgiving” because “God dwells in the praises of His people“. Psalm 23 finds him in a wonderful place, and verse three says: He restores my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for His names sake. Here are the definitions of “restore“: return to its original or usable and functioning condition; regenerate: return to life; get or give new life or energy; give or bring back; repair: restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken; bring back into original existence, use, function, or position. When you consider the meaning of that word, you can see that to have your soul restored is a big deal! You can start all over and erase the bad, depressing moments and become brand new! When you look in the face of Jesus, the words to my mindless song even make more sense…”When I’m feeling blue, all I have to do is take a look at you, then I’m not so blue.” Or another you might identify with more: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”  Think of a silver candlestick, when it is tarnished it becomes black and you can’t see the beautiful shine. All you have to do is take polish and rub it back to its original shine and glory. It may be that you are just a little tarnished and need to be polished, or if you are bent, you might have to face the fire of the silver smith! Malachi 3:3(a) He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. This says to me that He will not send me to the fire alone, but will sit there and work with me while I am in the fire, being refined, purified and made an honorable vessel ready to shine once again.