The Refiner's Purpose

Gold is often not found entirely pure in the earth. It usually has impurities that need to be removed from it. This process is called refining, and it is accomplished by heating the gold because everything melts at a different temperature and so they can be separated. The refiner will put the gold through the fire until all the impurities are gone, until he can see his face shining in it. This analogy has several applications to the Christian life.

Romans 3:23 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

First, the gold requires refining. We are not pure or perfect to begin with and need to be refined. Unfortunately, we cannot do this on our own, we need a Refiner. We also cannot go without refining, for that would result in spiritual death.

Romans 6:23 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For the wages of sin is death,

Second, gold is refined by being heated to the melting point. Gold is made to lose its shape, texture and form so that the impurities can be removed. It is not an easy process, nor is it comfortable. It is difficult and painful for it requires being broken. We have to be brought to the point that we yield to God, that we are willing to let go of our impurities. This happens through various trials and sufferings, but if we are willing, God can use those painful circumstances to refine us. The key is we have to be willing, and we have to submit.

James 1:2-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Third, it is the Refiner who puts the gold through the fire. It does not happen by accident, nor can the gold do it itself. This does not mean that every bad or difficult thing we experience is from God. Sometimes it is the result of our own sin or wrong choices. Other times it is the result of living in a sin-filled world. Yet God can use them all for the purpose of refinement to remove the impurities in us.

1 Peter 1:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

In all 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 the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Fourth, it has reached perfection when the Refiner can see His face in it. That is our goal and purpose, to reflect Christ. That is why He refines us and it is the measure of our refinement. Our impurities, the sins and flaws of our character and nature, are reflections of the world in us. They are ways in which we do not resemble Christ. When we are saved, we begin the process of sanctification in which we are made more like Christ until we reach perfection in heaven. We are constantly being refined as gold.

Do you submit to the Refiner’s fire? Are you willing to be made pure through the trials you endure? Are you willing to give up your impurities?