Refined By Fire

1 Peter 1:6-9 - In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Psalm 66:10 - For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Romans 6:22 - But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Conclusions:

• From one point of view, times of distress constitute a testing of God’s people as to their trust in and loyalty to God
• The metaphor is borrowed from the technology of refining precious metals, which included heating the metals in a crucible to see if all impurities had been removed
• Seen in the perspective of eternity, the Christian’s difficulties, whatever they may be, diminish in importance
• By comparison, the eternal glory is far greater than all the suffering one may face in this life
• Slavery to God produces holiness, and the end of the process is eternal life
• There is no eternal life without holiness
• Anyone who has been justified will surely give evidence of that fact by the presence of holiness in his life

Application:

• Do you trust in God and are you loyal to Him?
• Do you see your difficulties from the perspective of eternity?
• Are you a slave to God?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible