Refining Fire

Many times in the Bible we hear of God using fire, or even appearing as fire to get the attention of his people.  I was reading the other day and came across a passage with the specific image of refining fire.  I am a visual learner so I was struck by the image of gold being refined in a fire and what that process looks like, so I fell into the black hole that is Google and researched this process.  The expected outcome is pure gold, but in order to reach that goal, a tedious and time-consuming process must take place.  Impurities must be removed, which can be done using extremely high heat.  As the liquid heats up, the impurities can be skimmed off the surface. This part of the process may be repeated many times to make sure that all of the impurities are removed.

I feel like I am in a season of refining fire and, friends, I have been here before... many times.  I have asked for God to move in my life and transform my mind, body, and heart, but then the heat gets turned up or I lose my desire to stay in the fire - so I bail.  This has looked different in different areas of weakness, but I long to see the beautiful outcome of staying in the fire and allowing all of my impure thoughts, attitudes, habits, etc. to rise to the surface so the Lord can remove them for good.

I read an article from John Piper titled "He Is Like a Refiner's Fire" which gives even more importance to the symbolic use of a refining fire:

"He is a refiner's fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner's fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire. A refiner's fire does not consume completely like the fire of an incinerator. A refiner's fire refines. It purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact. He is like a refiner's fire."

No matter how hot the fire gets, it will not destroy me.  Y'all I am sitting in Panera and trying to hold it together as the weight of that sinks in.  Jesus, I want to be purified.  I want to allow the refining of your fire to consume my heart and my mind.  

Friend, what do you need to submit to the fire?  Maybe you are like me and you've been in that fire before and this feels like the 176th time he is skimming those impurities from the surface, but let's resist the urge to jump out and run back to our old habits and ways of thinking.  Let's stick it out this time.  Let's experience the refining fire together.