Regarding the word "dross", it is not a word we readily use. I may not have adequately made an application for what "dross" may be in my sermon yesterday. In the symbolic, spiritual sense, "dross" is anything we have that falls short of God's purity that He desires for us or that blocks us from truly worshiping Him.
It does not have to be a major sin that God seeks to burn off, but anything that convicts; that which blurs our focus for Him. It may be a major conviction, a minor one, or even a distraction from intimacy with the One who loves us the most.
For me, politics and the news distract me from God. A few weeks ago, I was tested to spend money on grass to plant on a piece of dirt that really didn't matter to anyone but me; money which could be used better spent elsewhere. For someone else, it may be a second chocolate chip cookie that no one "needs" to eat; a failure to control their speeding or continuing to text while driving; it may be the pride which prompts you to post a picture from your luxurious vacation to Cancun (or the envy which prompts me to be offended that you posted it). Those socially "acceptable" sins are to God the "dross" that needs to be purged and skimmed because though small, they mar the silver from reflecting the image of God, the Refiner.
But "dross" can be something so major that no one would publicly, willingly admit. Scandals in the church that are only repented from when openly exposed; marriages in distress because wayward husbands and wives are not submitting to God; people teetering on going back to addictions that will ruin their lives and so many others whom they love; backsliders who do not realize that their spiritual indifference does not only hurt them, it hurts the church to which they should be faithful as well as their own families; unforgiveness that has lingered far too long; abuse that if exposed would send the perpetrators to jail; family finances in peril because they are not honoring God, not only in the ten percent tithe, but because they are not providing for their own families with the essentials and spending on selfish desires with no eternal significances. These are the dross that needs to come to the surface by the fiery trials and tests from the Lord.
Dross can be "small" sins, "large" sins, but they also may be "secret" sins. Someone said that secret sins on earth are open scandals in heaven. No one but God sees the secret dross, but He is the one to whom it matters the most. Critical spirits; rolling of the eyes; harboring of hatred thinly masked by broad smiles; knives pointed to backs, longing to be thrust; jealousies and envies; mean spirits; gossips veiled as prayer requests.
Are these tests from God or temptations from the tempter? Either way, the fires of God which purge the dross should not be feared but welcomed. Burn off in us that which obscures You, O God!
