Refined & Conformed

     

          Five or so years ago, I ran across a song that got stuck in my head and lodged deep into my heart. Refiner's Fire sung by Keith Lancaster & The Acappella Company pierced me with its simple and humbling message.

"Refiner's Fire, my heart's one desire is to be holy, set apart for you, Lord. I choose to be holy, set apart for you, my Master, ready to do your will."   

          More recently, I was reading a year-long book about Jesus in the Old Testament (written by Nancy Guthrie), and the entry for the day was dubbed "Refining Fire". I understood the concept of a refiner's fire, the heat pulling out the impurities to create a polished and perfect metal. The item that went through the fire was purified, made clean, ready for use. But what hadn't occurred to me, what I had yet to consider, was how the refiner knew when the item was ready to be pulled from the fire. What was it he looked for that told him all the impurities were removed? According to this entry in my book, the workman knew the silver was ready when he could see his own reflection in it. The silver is purified so that it may reflect. So too are we purified that we may reflect Christ.

"When the fires of affliction burn in our lives, our Refiner is at work burning away the impurities of our pride and apathy and unbelief. He is removing what is unfit and impure, transforming the ordinary ore of our lives into a shining treasure that reflects his image." 

-Nancy Guthrie

          The refiner's fire makes me better. It is intentional and fueled by grace. The flame, the heat, the burn - it works to purify our hearts. Whatever is tarnished within us, whatever looks more like the world and less like Christ, will be touched by the refiner's fire. Just like the children of Israel were commanded to cast any of the treasures they had taken as spoil from the Midianites into the fire to make them acceptable to God (Numbers 31:23), so are we faced with the command to bring whatever is corrupt in us to Christ. He is the fire that refines us. He is the flame that purifies us, making us acceptable in the sight of God. Are we letting him do that or are we fighting the transformation he's working in us?

          Trials mold us into the character of Christ - into the image of God as he originally created man in the Garden of Eden. God works on my heart and in my life to shape me into the image of his Son. My best self is the new creature I become when I have been crucified with Christ - when I endure suffering, trials, and temptations for his sake. I want God to mold me into the servant he needs to display Christ to my corner of the world. The only way to do that is have less of me and more of Christ. The darker the night, the harder the fight, the more of Christ I find. The fire is a light that exposes my weaknesses and illuminates the One who upholds me by the strength of his grace. It burns away what cannot stay in my pursuit of Christ, and the longer it burns, the clearer his reflection becomes.

"He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

          The first epistle of Peter to the scattered churches contains a nugget of truth about this. In the fourth chapter, verses twelve and thirteen, Peter writes: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." We rejoice in the refiner's fire. We take great joy in our ability to suffer with our Savior, for we know it prepares us to be lifted up with him when he comes back to claim his own. By the grace of God, those of us that know Christ and walk with the Lord, can possess a comfort, a contentment in the fire that looks strange to the world. Because when you trust that the fire makes you better, when you understand that your faith is strengthened through the flames (1 Peter 1:7), you are more willing to walk through it. What we gain from the scorching trials far outweighs anything the world could offer us.

          Paul knew this. Paul lived this. (Philippians 3:7-11) He considered everything here worthless so he could obtain Christ. He was willing to suffer the refining fire of affliction, beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, and so much more because he knew they would lead him to eternal resurrection with Christ. He was glad to be conformed to Christ's death. Paul understood that in order to be conformed to the glory of Christ in eternity, he had to be conformed to the suffering of Christ in his short earthly life. If he wanted to goodness of heaven, he would have to endure the trials of earth. Just like Christ did. How was Paul to be any closer to reflecting Christ if he didn't endure suffering like he did. How can we be molded to the image of our Redeemer if we don't have fellowship in his sufferings? The only way to bear the image of Christ is to die to ourselves.

          Death takes place in the Refiner's fire. Death to self. Death to the flesh. Death to our desires.

          And it's a continual death, a recurring sacrifice of self. Because we're human. We falter. We aren't as constant as our heavenly Father. Like Paul, we may have to walk through several fires as God keeps refining us. Our Good Father cares too much about it to let us sit in our dross and waste away in ourselves. He wants to make us shine and reflect the light of his Son.

          It's going to hurt. It's likely going to last longer than we desire. But, oh how magnificent our image will be in that final day when we get to stand face to face with the One who intimately shares the pain and joy of it all with us!