Faith is Gold

January 2, 2012 “So that the genuineness of your faith may be tested, because your faith is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. This proving of your faith is to redound to your praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (I Peter 1:7)

Did you know God considers your faith even more precious than what we consider the preciousness of gold. Today the price of gold is the highest it has ever sold in U. S. dollars, according to Google information. Why is gold so precious? Because, gold is very rare, it is hard to extract, it is enduring, it is beautiful and doesn’t rust or discolor. We measure all other values by it because it is “precious.”

The above scripture tells us that our faith is tested for its genuineness like gold is tested for purity. I read many years ago how gold is refined and tested by fire and the analogy is so applicable to how our faith is being refined, tested and purified that I want to share it.

The entire explanation of how gold is refined is too technical and lengthy to include in this writing but basically the gold ore is put into a crucible placed on a very hot fire (gold melts at l,l02 C). When the gold reaches its melting point it separates from all the earthy impurities in which it has been infused. These impurities rise to the top of the mixture and are skimmed off by the refiner. These impurities are called “dross.” This process is continued until there is nothing left in the crucible but the precious, pure gold. The point at which the refiner can tell that there are no more impurities is when he looks into the crucible and can clearly see his own reflection.

What a perfect analogy as to how our Father (the Refiner) purifies our faith by putting us in the crucible of life and turns up the fire of His discipline and life’s excruciating circumstances – this tests the genuineness of our faith. When we are in the crucible of life and the fire has been turned up to “high,” the impurities in our life (doubts, fears, self-will, etc.) begin to rise to the surface, the Refiner skims off the dross in our lives with His ladle of His promises and His Word. This process of heating and skimming sometimes makes us feel as if “we are all goin’ to skimmins,” but the Refiner is simply “separating the precious from the vile” (Jeremy 15:19). He is replacing the doubts about Him with the Truth of His Word.

This life process causes our faith to become more pure with every testing. This proving process is intended for our glory when others see the reflection of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is at this point that our faith has become as pure gold and is more precious to the Father than real pure gold.

In the third chapter of Revelation, God is talking to the church in Laodicea whose faith had become contaminated with lukewarmness, self-sufficiency and spiritual blindness. The Father counseled them to buy spiritual gold (true faith), which would make them truly wealthy and would cover their nakedness with God’s robe of righteousness. And this refined faith would be the salve to put on their eyes so they could see the Truth of God’s Word. We are implored to do the same because the world, especially the western world, has been so contaminated with the its perspective and ways, that only the Refiner’s process will make us pure again. And only then will others see the beauty of Jesus in us.

“Let The Beauty Of Jesus Be Seen In Me”
Albert W. T. Orsborn

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me – all His wonderful passion and purity!
O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me!