I read about the process of gem and precious metal refining today. Though I already knew about this process somewhat, I was shown again by this example how God is taking us through a firing process. Gems and precious metals are UNRECOGNIZABLE at first, laying among the dirt, covered with hard unwanted minerals. They go through a long and painful (if they had feelings) process of scraping, washing and firing.
Our walk towards becoming like Christ is very much the same. We are all in a refining process, where impurities mingle with the treasure that He is trying to create. He knows exactly what it will take to make us into the creation and person we were designed to be. The only obstical to this refining process is US. With a gem or precious metal, the end result is always beauty because it has no choice. We, however, have a choice. God wants to take us and refine us into something of great worth, but if it hurts too much, or we decide we want our own desires more than Gods, we bail. We choose not to listen to God, which leaves us right where we started; in the dirt, hard with unwanted impurities, hardly recognizable as one of Gods precious creations. The saddest part is that we don't even understand our own desires. We want to have happiness and think that we know best how to attain it. We think by doing things our way we will be happy. But our way can never fully satisfy the longing for the true joy that only God can give. Getting our way may partially satisfy our hunger, but will ALWAYS fall short in the end.
If only we really knew the end result that God desires to bring about in us...guess what...we can know and be sure that God ALWAYS does what is best for us, ALWAYS intends everything for our good.
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