Put through the fire

When gold is first mined, it has many impurities, such as zinc, copper, silver, or iron. One way to get out the impurities is by melting the gold. Gold's melting point is 1064.18 °C / 1947.52 °F! Once the gold is melted, gaseous chlorine is blown into the liquid. The remaining elements react with the chlorine and form a layer on top of the liquid gold. Note how the impurities could not be gotten out until gold was melted... which is extremely hot!

Christians must go through this process. What! Yes. There are several references of the 'gold process' in the Bible.

1 Peter 1:7

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Gold has always been valuable. Paul talks of how our faith being much more valuable than gold... and gold goes through fire. No one buys the impure gold because it is not at its best. Same with our faith. We need the fire to make our faith strong... and pure... to glorify God. After we go through the fire, it is so our faith 'might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.' So, we as Christians following after God, can expect to go through the fire so our impurities can be 'melted' out. It is during those extreme trials in our life that our imperfections rise up and that is when we can offer them to God and He can remove them. Do not be discouraged during this process because it is out of love for you and it is drawing you ever closer to Jesus. He sees our finished product, our true potential through all of the imperfections. Keep in mind how 'hot' the gold has to get in order to get the impurities out.

Isaiah 1:25

And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.

purge: rid of impurities, an act of removing by cleansing, etc...

dross: a mass of solid impurities floating on a molten metal, waste, impure matter

God said He will rid of us our impurities... so if you're going through the fire, trust in His word... that He will never leave you nor forsake you! Wait on Him and your strength will be renewed... for our God, the creator of everything, does not grow weary!

I was convicted after I had written this post, thinking of what right I had to write on such an issue. So I must say, I do not pretend to fathom what the depth of this test will be like or what it will cost. In my limited, immature faith, God is slowly teaching me what it means to go through the fire. My 'fire' is to me a trial, yet I know it is not worthy to be compared to such things as persecution. Each person has his/her own thing that makes their faith be tested. So, I'm not an expert at being put in the fire, rather beginning to learn and realize what this fire means and having the light bulb click on that if you are following after Christ, you will be put through the fire.