Being Refined
30 Days in 1st Peter - day 3
Exiles are anxious people. They are often misunderstood and live on the margins of the country in which they find themselves. Where they are is where they must be, but it never quite feels like home.
This is the motif Peter uses to frame the Christian life in this world. He is frank with the reality of what that can mean for believers at times. We experience various trials. At times they feel like being thrown into a consuming fire. We suffer. We grieve.
But Peter refuses to let us stare only at the flames. He lifts our eyes to the future God has prepared for us.
We have an inheritance awaiting us that is untouched and untouchable by whatever this life throws at us. Even we ourselves are being kept by the power of God so as to be able to receive that inheritance.
And what do these trials accomplish? Not what the world expects. The fires meant to destroy do destroy, but not as imagined. Instead of destroying our faith, they refine it. Like gold, the impurities are burned away and what remains is precious. Instead of causing us to abandon Christ, they lead us to praise, honor, and glory at His appearing.
As the old Hymn, “How Firm a Foundation” says, “the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”
That is our living hope. The fire is not punishment. It is preparation. The fire is not the end of us. It is God’s refining work.
