A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

1 Peter 4:12, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy.” On occasions, I used to watch in fascination as a gentleman I knew operated a small foundry, nestled in a hollow, not too far from my home. The smelting process transformed pieces of scrap metal into ingots that the foundry owner would ship to manufacturing plants in the North. Local residents would provide the foundry with almost an endless supply of various scrap metals, and then the foundry owner would take each metal type through a unique process to transform it into a usable product. The metal would be placed in a large, iron container, and then heated until it was a molten liquid. Then, the attendant would take a long-handled ladle and skim debris from the top of the molten liquid, concluding with pouring the contents into pre-formed molds for cooling. I was amazed to see trash be re-born into a usable product for the manufacturing of something new. In our Scripture lesson today, the apostle Peter reminds us of a similar process that occurs in our lives as well. At times, we are all subjected to the refining process. To take us from our present state, into a form that is more usable in the Kingdom of God, we are permitted to go through a series of fiery trials. These tests, by their nature, prompt the debris, or as my friend at the foundry would say, the “slag” to be removed from our lives. In the end, we are purer, than when the process began, and we are better able to be fashioned into the form by which the Lord can receive more glory from our lives, than if we had remained in our original state. Certainly, it is a process that we would never voluntarily submit to. Yet our heavenly Father is always in control of the process, never to see us destroyed, but to see us transformed—to see us re-borne! Refined to be re-born, re-molded, into a new creation, to fulfill new purposes, for His glory, for each new day!