There is a certain tension between suffering and comfort. The Bible often associates suffering with fire that either destroys everything in its path or fire that refines and purifies. One we should avoid at all costs; the other produces something good, though through a painful process that might cause us to question our identity, our future, our source of strength and hope, perhaps even our very life. Let me tell you the story of the refiner’s fire that speaks to this ‘good’ kind of suffering:
A young man happened upon a silversmith who refined silver and gold from raw materials, sitting in front of his fire. “Why do you heat the metal?” he asked?
The Refiner answered, “In order to make precious silver I have to remove all the impurities that make it worth less than it really is.” The young man thought about his own life and how one time of fiery suffering or another was required to remove some of the ‘junk’ in his own life.
“Why do you sit while you work?” inquired the visitor?
The Refiner replied, “I have to watch the fire closely. Too little heat and the impurities will not be removed; too much heat and the precious metal will be destroyed and made worthless.” The young man reflected how his life of comfort had brought a sense of complacency that led him to abandon his dreams, settling instead for a humdrum life. But he had also come through painful fiery times with character and strength that he would not have found elsewhere.
Then the young man asked The Refiner, “How do you know when the silver is at the right temperature?”
The Refiner smiled and answered, “I know the purifying is complete when I can see my reflection in the silver.” The young man marveled at the answer thinking, “That is true in my life. My own fiery trials were only complete when My Refiner’s image could be seen in me.”
The young man left contemplating the aspects of his life still needing to transformed by The Refiner: his own selfish desires, ambitions, and time-wasting activities; his tendency to quickly judge others or believe a lie that he never really examined. And he gave thanks to God who is the only one able to free him from these impurities and transform him into the likeness of Jesus.
Of course, you don’t have to go through fiery trials to rid yourself of impurities that cheapen life’s value. You can identify these and hand them over to God – completely – resolved to let them become a part of your past, not your future. Or you can see what will power and determination accomplishes. Live a life of unsurpassing value, no matter how much heat is required to bring about refinement. You – and those you love – are worth it!
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. . .But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire. . . . He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.
Malachi 3:1-3 (abridged)