Gold Digging

When Wayne and I were first courting, we had a British Literature class together at Tennessee Tech. We used to do cutesy things while we sat through lecture like abuse quotes from some Old English passages in notes to each other. It was fun having our own, inside joke, class commentary. One of the things I remember taking out of context was the phrase, “I think you are gold.”

Gold. It's precious. It's valuable. It's shiny. It is called the “Nobel Metal” because it is the only metal that will never rust or tarnish. It's virtually indestructible. It's decorative, but also very useful in electronics and medical practices for treatments and surgeries that were once impossible. Gold is used in adorning kings, and the highest prize an athlete can earn is the Olympic gold medal. Gold is gooooooooood. This earth has lots of gold, but there is even more soil. What if we were so afraid of the dirt, that we never went gold digging?

People also have gold..... God-given, good, golden qualities that are often buried in mountains of filth. Our words, views and opinions are like shovels, dynamite, and backhoes. When we honor people with our words, we are pointing out the gold in their lives. Affirmation is gold digging. Pretty soon that gold that is buried beneath the soil makes its way to the surface and they suddenly begin to shine.
People who behave carnally are really only aware of their “soil.” What good would it do to constantly remind them how dirty they are? What gives us the right to tell them where they need to get “cleaned” up if God sees them already as clean, blameless, and innocent as Jesus? If you see someone with a little “dirt” on their face, it is you who needs a bath. “Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15

Jesus said to get the log out of your own eye before you see splinter in someone else. “Well, it is just my opinion, and I am allowed to think what I want.” or “ I know I'm right and I need to make you that way too, because I care about you.” Is that right? Well, any opinion that does not match God's opinion is a lie. Lies are shovels for the soil. You don't want to be a grave digger! “If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin'.” This gold digging is serious stuff. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Choose life. That log in our eye obscures our vision so we see the wood chips in others. I guarantee if we remove our logs, we'll see others as “pure” as we are. We all have filth, dirt and soil. Even the “best” of us is like dirty rags compared to the righteousness of the Lord. I said, “best” because really it is always opposite day in the Kingdom of God. What we call best, he calls filthy. What we call first, he calls last. What we call, subtraction (giving,) he calls multiplication. Our real LIFE only begins after our death. That does not mean that we do not experience or recognize darkness, but Psalms 139:12 says, “even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” Hmmm...That really changes my way of thinking.

Something that is so extra awesome about gold-digging is the principle, “It is better to give than to receive.” When you go gold-digging, the gold in you automatically comes to the surface. It strengthens the digger at the same time it strengthens the receiver. I love God's law about that. It's one of those “opposites” I mentioned earlier that make His kingdom so much fun. The more you give, the more you get. Giving honor multiplies honor in ourselves.

This is also something interesting to think about....There was an experiment done with a group of low-performing students. They put these underachievers in a classroom with a teacher who knew nothing about them. The teacher was told that the students were the high-achieving students. At the end of the school year, they were actually high achievers. She believed in them and they were. That makes me think that even if we hold our tongues, just the attitude that radiates from us can influence others. After all, it is not who you believe in as much as it is who believes in you.

We should also never take for granted that people who “shine” know they do. I think sometimes when it seems so obvious that someone is filled with gold, that we forget they could be encouraged if we call attention to it. Sometimes it is not obvious to them, and you telling them they are gold may just be the edification they need to hear. We should always try to remember to honor those golden people with our words. They will be encouraged and consequently, they will shine even more.

“All that glisters is not gold.” Flattery is glittery, but it is not gold digging. Wayne and I refer to flattery as “blowing sunshine up someone's butt.” We like to call flatterers, “Solar Proctologist.” (Saying that is not exactly gold digging, but it does make us laugh.) Flattery is attached to a motive. Flattery is like gold digging with an agenda. Maybe you want to point out the good in someone so that they will change a bad behavior. Sounds like good intentions, but just the fact that you see the need for them to change says that you see lack in them and therefore you are just digging in the soil. To me, that is just grave digging. Gold digging is motivated by LOVE. It is a heavenly perspective into someone's life. Gold digging is a product of being born of God who is Love. (1 John 4:7-8.)

That is why I so love the gift of prophecy. Prophecy is like inserting a direct line to somebody's gold mine. God can give you the right words to say to someone that brings their TRUTH-self to the surface. I love this about Father. God has an opinion of us, and it is not that we need “fixing.” He sees us as perfect as he sees Jesus. He sees us as gold. As hard as that is to admit, it is the truth. It might be true that we make mistakes and think incorrectly and do not believe, etc, but that is not the truth. We have a choice...we can focus on the things in us that is soil, or we can lay down our opinion and adopt the heart of our father.---That is extremely humbling. It is tough to see the gold in us, but when can humble our opinions to match Father's opinion of us, we become awakened. If we want to see gold in others, we must first see the gold in ourself. We then will know we are seated in heavenly places and the perspective from there is just... heavenly!

Your Daddy thinks you are gold!