I remember when I first learned how to make a fire. My friend Matt taught me how to start and keep a fire going. We went outside in his backyard after the sun went down, walking with flashlights through the yard going to his stack of wood. He had a fairly large pile almost waist high and a few feet out. Bending down to grab all different sizes of wood he started to instruct me to grab certain ones. As we headed in the house, we were greeting by his little boy name Josiah. Now Josiah is about 2 years old at this point. The boy is looking up at us as we walk inside and set the firewood next to his fire place.
We said “hi” and played a little with Josiah but had him stand back as we started. Matt looked at me and asked, “What three things do you need to make a fire?”. Trying to rack my brain for years back in chemistry class and coming up with a vague answer, “Uh, wood, heat… and gas?”. He smiled at me and said, “Wood, heat, and oxygen. That was close but you need all three.” As we dived in we separated all the sizes, smallest to largest. Then we put the small brush inside to start the fire, as the fire came alive we all secretly smiled. I felt a sense of achievement as the fire grew when we put more and more wood on it while keep open gaps for the fire to breath. Looking around and seeing Josiah captivated by the fire with a wonder in his eyes stood out to me.
I don’t know if you ever started a fire or kept it alive but we all have been around one. There’s something about a fire and the ambience it sets and its power. The sense of warmth, the beautiful colors that shine vividly just capture your eye. How it consumes thousands of materials within seconds, how it refines gold and purifies precious metals is amazing…and what can stand in the fire comes out greater than what it was when it originally went in.
The Lord takes us into this process of refining our character and it’s shown much like fire. There is so much scripture on this it’s a full study in itself but let’s look at the heartbeat of why. What does the fire represent and why is it refining our character? The fire represents the trails of life which are many, here is a list of some; when someone close to you dies, if you have ever struggled financially, watching your parents divorce, having a really difficult boss to work underneath, a tough transitioning period, when you feel betrayed from someone in your inner-circle, problems with your spouse, a life threatening incident. Even Jesus said we will have many trials, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 “
We can have ultimate peace in these trails and even celebrate for what they produce in our faith. For the fire refines our faith as the trails refines our character. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
You see, circumstances don’t make or break us…they reveal us. We can learn who we are in this midst of chaos and the deeper issues within our own heart to sync our true identity with His heart. We come out greater and more mature than when we went in.
I’m not like, “bring on the trails Lord!” but they come with life and through them I know He is trusting me as His son with so much. That’s the heartbeat of why, that He trusts us to stand in the trials and embrace the fire. There will be a time where Josiah will come of a certain maturity and his father will trust him to start and make a fire. And as the Josiah’s eyes were transfixed on the fire, so will the world be transfixed by you. By the light inside, the fire of the Holy Spirit that lives within you that is taking you from glory to glory. They will see Jesus, the light of the world shinning through the darkness. Through the fire of trails we learn more dependency on Him and who He made us to be…and as sons and daughters of God that will change the world.
“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.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
