Ref: gillettefirstbaptist<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
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.<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s not even that I lose my desire for Him or that I don\u2019t see the need to actively seek His face\u2014because I do. But that desperation<\/em> 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.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd 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.\u00a0Then 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.<\/span><\/p>\nThe thing about silver is that it only gets oxidized when it\u2019s 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<\/em> turn brown again.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"IMG_7022\"](\"http:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_7022-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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.<\/span><\/p>\nRemain in me and I will remain in you, Jesus said (John 15:4). In many ways, we are like pieces of sterling silver\u2014needing to remain in direct contact<\/em> with Christ so that He can act as our continual and constant \u201cnatural polish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nEven though we may go through the same circumstances that come our way, when we remain in<\/em> 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<\/em> to the things that happen around us.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"IMG_7025\"](\"http:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_7025-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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\u2019s calming presence around us, we will<\/em> begin to lose our luster, and the joy of the Lord eventually gets snuffed out of our lives.<\/span><\/p>\nSo hold on to Jesus, because He is close to all<\/em> who seek Him. In good times or bad, need God desperately<\/em>. 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.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
|Share The Good News|<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nEsperanza Ng<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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.\u00a0They had started […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":48697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4580,538,951,8227,8228,8230,8229],"class_list":{"0":"post-48696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-inspirational","8":"tag-christian-living","9":"tag-christianity-malaysia","10":"tag-christians-in-malaysia","11":"tag-john-154","12":"tag-psalm-3418","13":"tag-remaining-in-christ","14":"tag-tarnished-silver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65295,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48696\/revisions\/65295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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