Gold For The Kingdom

God’s major lessons to me didn’t come from earning a college degree in Bible or from studying to preach. They came from experiences in life that produced at least some pain and many struggles. He turned up the “fire” to make me malleable. Beyond the learning and changing that came from those periods, I noticed something else: Each experience made me stronger spiritually and emotionally than I was before. That our faith may be proved genuine. Faith will be stronger unless we give up on the faith. “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” 1 Corinthians 1:8, 9, NIV.

5. Increasing the value of the gold (the value increased with each refining)

Joe Beam- When Herbert taught me about refining and shaping gold, he pointed out the importance of continuing the refining process rather than stopping at some intermediate point. He said, “Think about steel for a moment. From a pound of steel you can make many different products. You can go through a short series of annealing and make horseshoes. Or you can go through more annealings and make hypodermic needles. Which is more valuable,, a pound of horseshoes or a pound of needles? The more designed and better shaped the metal, the greater the value.” Then, smiling and gently looking into my eyes, he made his point: “Don’t you think the same is true of people?” While I understand this principle, I don’t always enjoy it. Even so, God is making gold for the kingdom. Larry Brannan, “I have no problem seeing God in my taillights. It’s finding Him in my headlights that’s difficult.” Wouldn’t it be encouraging if we could see Him in the headlights more often? Oh, soul are we wearied and troubled, no light in the darkness you see, there’s light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant and free..