Getting Set Ablaze

Now, this is what God does in our lives as He forgives our sins and throws them as far as the East is from the West. Now, our problem is that we think of this in non-linear terms. If we leave the East coast, we’ll eventually come around to where we started. But with God it’s linear. The two never come together, and with the Universe continuing to expand even as we speak, it continues to grow wider and farther apart.

Another way we can look at this is something I recently heard in a worship song. The distance between the East and the West in God’s forgiveness is the distance between one nail scarred hand of Jesus upon the cross and the other nail scarred hand.

In the same way the Lord refines us. The Lord turns up the heat in our lives and starts to reveal our true nature, our sin nature. And as we confess our sins, He tosses them away. Or we could say, He gives unending forgiveness.

And so, the Lord sits like a refiner. But a refiner doesn’t sit in his office waiting for results. Instead, he sits directly over the pot and when the impurities arise, he immediately scoops them out. He also knows when the refining process is finished when he can see his image shining back at him through the molten metal.

For God’s refining process of our lives, it continues until the day we die as we are being made and formed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Again, God knows when it’s done when He removes the dross, the impurities in our lives and sees the image of His Son, Jesus Christ shining back.

He is saying that we’re as pure as gold in His sight.

B. Toughens Our Faith

Consider the making of steel. The steel that is the strongest is the steel that has been through the fire many times over and has found itself time and time again on the anvil of a metal smith who pounds on and places it back into the fire again. Soon it’s made and fashioned into something of great worth.

God places us in various situations that are difficult to say the least. We call them fiery trials. But the reason God places us in these situations is to test the genuineness of our faith and to produce godly qualities in our lives where we will likewise be of great value.

Consider the Apostle James’s words and let them give solace during these trying times.

He said, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NKJV)

With this in mind, we aren’t to fear the fire of God. Why, because God is in the fire! The reason we fear God’s fire is because we don’t understand the benefits of being in the God’s holy fire.

Benefits of God’s Holy Fire

1. The Fire of God Directs Us

We see this in the story of Moses and the burning bush.

“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2 NKJV)

The Angel of the Lord here is the Jesus. It is what’s known as a Theophany, which is the appearance of God in human form. We see this within the story as He told Moses to take off his sandals because the place where he was standing was holy ground. And Moses fell on his face and worshiped when the Lord said, “I am the God of your father–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6 NKJV)