“And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” (Luke 20:25). Rendering is a process of refining waste animal products. For example, lard and tallow and other animal fats and oils can be rendered from all of the bits of animal that end up as waste in the course of processing pigs and cows and the like for meat. Sometimes we feel like we’ve really gone through the meat grinder with all of the trials we face. Life just cuts us to shreds and seems to leave us with no usable parts. And then as we’re trying to pick up all of these little pieces, the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, decides to turn up the heat. As we pass through the refiner's fire, the precious oil of conversion is rendered out of all of those unusable scraps. It might seem like getting thrown into hot water after being cut to ribbons is taking things a step too far, but it is only in the furnace of affliction can we extract every last ounce of oil out of all of those scraps. I know that the process of sacrificing and refining and rendering unto God the things which are God’s is a painful process, but when the Bridegroom comes in all His glory, it will be worth it for us to have enough oil with which to light our lamps.
