"Who can stand when He appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap."
- Malachi 3:1-4
 
Have you ever built a new home or remolded an old one? Some seek out a professional to do the plans and the work. If you are like me you jump right to the thought of the finished product. You have your plans but the professional has a very different view. There is always more to the preparation phase than one can imagine.
 
The same is true when one builds a road, even a highway of the heart like the one we are preparing during this Advent season. There is always . . .

"Who can stand when He appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap."
- Malachi 3:1-4
 
Have you ever built a new home or remolded an old one? Some seek out a professional to do the plans and the work. If you are like me you jump right to the thought of the finished product. You have your plans but the professional has a very different view. There is always more to the preparation phase than one can imagine.
 
The same is true when one builds a road, even a highway of the heart like the one we are preparing during this Advent season. There is always extensive digging and leveling to be done before the surface of the road is laid down.
 
The fiery words of the prophet Malachi make us aware of this truth. He uses images of scouring and refining, purification that is less like gentle cleansing than stripping and transformation. This divine action will initiate a radical change.
 
To truly prepare for the King we must be willing to let God undertake the extensive, foundational work of readying us, leveling and planning the contours of our lives so that we may truly become roads on which the Promised One might travel.
 
Then cleansed be every life from sin;
Make straight the way for God within,
And let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Genuinely shape my life so that I might be a welcomer of His promise.