I was walking past my dresser last night when I noticed a sorry sight: Two sterling silver rings that I had taken off several weeks ago just sitting there, unused, and tarnished. They had started losing their luster several days after I took them off, but as the days and weeks past, they got browner and browner.
I stopped to look at them, and in a bout of self-pity, felt like them: not exactly where they were supposed to be, and stained from being exposed to harsh conditions—or in this case, oxygenation.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
This psalm has resonated with me through many tough times, and always serves as a great reminder that God never leaves us to deal with our hurts and problems by ourselves. However, even as I find comfort in the assurances of these words, I am reminded that I have the tendency to forget that God is close to me even when I’m not brokenhearted—even when my spirit it not crushed.
Too many times in my Christian life, I find myself on my knees and begging God to let me feel His close presence. But once things start going my way, I get up, brush off my knees, and go about my dandy way.
It’s not even that I lose my desire for Him or that I don’t see the need to actively seek His face—because I do. But that desperation is lost. The lack of my urgent and dire need for Him to enfold me in His arms causes me to lose focus on Him and get distracted with other things in life.
And so I drift away from Him. Like a doggy on a leash, I stretch it as far as I can go, running back to Him every once in awhile for a pat on the head before I take off again. Then before too long, I find myself resembling those sad pieces of silver. Tarnished from the experiences I expose myself to because I was not where I was supposed to be: In the arms of my Savior.
The thing about silver is that it only gets oxidized when it’s not being put to use. A tarnished silver ring can be polished with chemicals to regain its original shine. But if you leave it to sit on a dresser again, it will turn brown again.
If you put it back on your finger and keep it on, however, your skin begins to act as a natural polish. Although it is exposed to the same environmental factors, it retains its shine. The difference is in the physical contact it has with your skin.
Remain in me and I will remain in you, Jesus said (John 15:4). In many ways, we are like pieces of sterling silver—needing to remain in direct contact with Christ so that He can act as our continual and constant “natural polish.”
Even though we may go through the same circumstances that come our way, when we remain in Christ with the same kind of desperation as when we go through tough times, His close presence surrounding us is what protects us from being subject to the things that happen around us.
Every time we stray from remaining in Him, even though He may be in the vicinity, we make ourselves vulnerable to the oxidation of this world. When we attempt to face all sorts of stress, worry, fears, and doubts without God’s calming presence around us, we will begin to lose our luster, and the joy of the Lord eventually gets snuffed out of our lives.
So hold on to Jesus, because He is close to all who seek Him. In good times or bad, need God desperately. Let Him be the polish that keeps us shining for Him while simultaneously protecting us from the difficulties and challenges that life throws at us. Let us not become like tarnished silver.
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Esperanza Ng
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