Music courtesy of The Falls Church Anglican Choir, Falls Church, Virginia, under the musical direction of Simon Dixon. Audio mastering by Andrew Schooley. From Messiah by George Frideric Handel (1742)

Listen to the full playlist for Handel’s Messiah.

Purification of silver fascinates and mesmerizes. Or so I’ve been told. I’ve never seen it happen, but I’ve heard reports of impurities bubbling up to the surface of a pool of melted metal and seeing the dross separated from the precious. The results produce fine jewelry, dazzling crowns, and platters that outshine all other serving dishes. It almost seems a crime to put food on them! That’s why some people display their silver on shelves for decoration rather than use them on dining tables for meals.

Purification of our souls feels far less fascinating. It’s painful. Removal of our spiritual dross—the sins of pride, lust, greed, anger, envy, and all the other deadly sins (and there are many more than just seven!)—would never seem mesmerizing to anyone.

But God’s promises of a coming Messiah include nothing short of a refiner’s fire that cleanses, purifies, and refines, so as to present a church “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish” (see Ephesians 5:27). Advent should be a time of anticipation and celebration of our Lord’s incarnation. It also paves the way for joy at the wonder of a Savior who pays for our sin. But it also must be a time of self examination and repentance, the first stage of refinement by the refiner’s fire. Let us not skip, skimp, or shirk this component of Advent. Rather, let us confess all the ways we need dross removal.

The great news of the gospel is that, if we acknowledge our inability to cleanse ourselves, God will cleanse us—through the finished atonement of the cross. In addition to your Advent prayers of praise and adoration, be sure to include repentance and confession. That’s the only way we can ever present ourselves as an offering in righteousness.