When someone has been burned and her skin is healing, the old skin must be scraped away—a painful process—in order for healing to continue. It is part of the transformation process of rebirth of skin cells and rebirth of the person.

Fire has a way of bringing about new birth and transformation. 1 Peter 1:7 speaks of our faith being refined by fire. And Malachi 3:3 states that God sits as a purifier and refiner of silver. But what does it mean to be refined by fire?

Allow me to borrow an often-used illustration whose author I don’t know how to credit:

A young man was reading Malachi 3:3 and wanted to understand what it meant for God to be a purifier and refiner of silver. So, he went to visit a jeweler to ask him what it meant, without referring to the scriptural reference.

The jeweler began to describe the purification process of the precious metals. “I put them in the fire in order to burn off all of the impurities and to make them moldable for whatever piece of jewelry I will make it into. I keep a close eye on the temperature of the fire and how long the silver or gold is in the fire so that all of the impurities can be burned off, but the integrity of the precious metal is not compromised.”

Fascinated, the young man thanked the jeweler and turned to leave, reflecting on how God allows various fiery trials in our life in order to burn off our many impurities.

Before he reached the door, the jeweler spoke again, “Do you want to know how I know when it is ready?”

“How?” asked the man.

“When I can see my reflection in it.”

Have you been transformed by fire to the point that God can see his reflection in your life? None of us like to go through fire, but my prayer for you today is that through the fiery trial, you might be a precious reflection of our loving heavenly Father.