Polished to a Soft Glow

All scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that man may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:17 (NIV)
    
With a wind up spout in front, two large handles, an urn-like body and tiny air holes at the top, my brass antique tea maker from Saudi Arabia mystified people until they learned what it did.

Occasionally, the tea maker caught my eye as it rested in a corner of my dining room. I was going to give it a good polishing one of these days. But I got preoccupied with other tasks so it remained — tarnished, forlorn and forgotten. Once a useful item under the careful hands of a Saudi wife, it brewed tea. People utilized it to serve a large household of people. 

Seeing it in such a state, I longed to restore it to its former glory.

Buying some polish, I found a cloth and got to work. Little by little, the grandeur of the brass began to shine through. It gleamed brightly in the sunlight and felt soft and smooth underneath my fingertips. Not only did it look exquisite, it worked! 

That day God taught me an important lesson from my tea urn. Was I truly equipping myself to do God’s good work? Or was I once an active, unique piece in which God used to serve His coffee. Through lack of care, have I grown tarnished? 

Tarnishing takes place gradually. It starts with tiny spots that form and begin to discolor the brilliance of metal, then slowly spreads and darkens. If we find we have some spots, shall we not offer ourselves up to our creator to rub them out and make us shine brilliantly to others again? 

I know I will constantly need it. For without His cloth and loving fingers smoothing me, I, too, begin to oxidize and lose my brilliance. I choose to be a useful instrument serving my master in the work He created me to fulfill. 

Lord, let us become soft and burnished gold from You, the One who formed our spouts. Let us apply Your Word to our lives to carry out the work You’ve created us to do. Amen.