Do You Use Flux?

I like to cast my own lead bullets, mostly 9mm for target shooting. I usually melt down range lead picked from the berms at our local shooting range and old wheel weights because perfect lead for casting bullets is impossible to find.  Range lead and wheel weights pick up impurities, so to remove them, I mix some flux in with the molten lead in the pot. The flux gets stirred in with the lead, and causes the impurities to rise to the surface, which I scoop off the top, and also, the flux causes beneficial tin to stay in the lead.

Tin is required in the lead to make the bullet the proper harness and strength, but if the impurities are not removed, the bullets will not be the correct weight, be inaccurate, could fly apart when fired, or miss the target. All of those can likewise happen to our lives when impurities of the world get in us and are not removed.

Like lead, it’s impossible to live perfectly and escape the impurities getting in us (impurities can be anger, hatred, bad language, lustful thoughts, bitterness, worry, selfishness, etc.).  We must mix flux in us, and let it do it’s work to clean out the junk, to be effective and reliable to God and others around us.

Ephesians 5:26 and Titus 3:5-6 tell us God’s Word and the Holy Spirit are like flux in the pot of molten lead.  Reading God’s Word daily, and letting the Holy Spirit apply what we read to our life will clean out the impurities.  Now, just like it takes intentional effort to mix the flux in the molten pot of lead and scoop off the impurities, we must also be intentional and give effort to cleaning out our lives…daily.

How do you actually do that? Pick a book in the New Testament and read a couple paragraphs or chapter each day.  Then ask “how can what I read clean me out so I can be more effective and reliable to God and others around me?” Ephesians is good to read, especially chapters 4-6, and Mark is good because it’s a fast-paced review of Jesus’ time on earth (being like Jesus is a good goal). Proverbs are also fun to read and apply, they are like one-liners from a very wise man.

Pick something in the Bible to read and get to cleaning out the bad stuff and keep the good stuff in…your life’s effectiveness and accuracy depend on it!