It is the way of the kingdom of heaven . . . it is a dynamic which those who seek the kingdom can expect to encounter. It’s not fun . . . but it’s profitable. We’d rather avoid it . . . but then we would lose its benefit. It is the way of the crucible . . .

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.   (Proverbs 17:3 ESV)

There’s something about turning up the heat that burns off impurities and makes precious metals all that more precious. So, says wisdom, is it with the heart. Turning up the heat on sliver brings the dross to the surface that it might be skimmed off . . . melting down solid gold to a liquid results in purer gold . . . and, allowing His children to enter trials results in children who look a bit more like His blessed Son.

It would be nice if sanctification were kind of like pixie dust. Just sprinkle some on and, presto change-o, we’re done. The old man’s heart of stone . . . that which is deceitful above all things, desperately sick, and beyond understanding (Jer. 17:9) . . . by the waving of some magic wand, is instantly and fully transformed into the heart of flesh promised those who have known regeneration through faith in Christ. But that’s not how it works.

The new heart, given us at rebirth, develops as it is tested and tried by the LORD. The new heart becoming more of a reality as we endure the stuff of life by faith in the One who promised to never leave or forsake us (Heb. 13:5) . . . the new heart becoming more of a reality as we experience the truth of the promise that we can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us (Php. 4:13).

It’s in the trials where we discover how much pride, self-sufficiency, impatience, and unbelief are still part of the new creations we are in Christ. It’s in turning up the heat on our lives where pride gives way to humility . . . where self-sufficiency is revealed for what it is and we move more towards trusting God with all our hearts, desperate for Him to direct our paths . . . where impatience rises to the surface as the impurity it is and we get to practice resting in the Lord . . . where unbelief is revealed by the fire and we cry out in desperation, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”

I’m not looking for crucibles or furnaces . . . but to the degree that God desires to test and refine my heart through them . . . to the degree that He wants me to be more and more conformed to the image of His Son through them . . . then, by the grace of God, I desire to be found faithful in the fire and to submit to the flames purifying work in me.

Peter puts it into context . . .

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.    (1Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

Life’s trials . . . my testing . . . faith more precious than precious gold . . . resulting in praise and glory and honor at His coming . . . not my praise, but His alone.

It’s the way of the kingdom . . . it’s the way of the crucible . . . by His grace, for His glory.