Refinement

What if I told you that God allows you to go through the fire for a purpose? But Gina, why would God, the one who loves me and has good plans for me, let me go through painful heat and fire?

See, the thing is, God’s ultimate purpose for us is for us to look like Him. When fire comes, it's not punishment; it's refinement. Raw gold is full of impurities, flaws, and dirt. The goldsmith needs to heat it to extremely high temperatures until it melts. As it liquefies, all the impurities rise to the surface and are removed. The fire, instead of damaging the gold, makes it stronger, more valuable, and pure.

As Christians, we have things in our lives that hold us back from fully representing Jesus Christ, feelings like inadequacy, unworthiness, fear, anger, pride, doubt, or sin. To be Christian means to be “Christlike.” The goldsmith knows his work is done when he can see his own reflection in the gold. 1 Peter 1:7 states that these trials show our faith is genuine; it is tested as fire tests and purifies gold.

God is working in you, refining you, strengthening your character. He wants to see Himself in you when He looks at you. Are you forgiving others when they hurt you? Are you showing love when others show hate? Are you praying for those who persecute you? Are you producing good fruit like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? Galatians 5:22-23 Are you flipping the reckless driver the bird because they ignored the yield sign and you almost crashed? Is God seeing His image in you? When you feel the heat of this world's fire and wonder, "God, where are you?" remember, He's right there holding you, His eyes are closely on you, waiting to see His reflected image in you. Every test, trial, temptation, tribulation you might face is Him refining you, making you like gold.