Our Daily Bread 17 August 2020 Devotional for Monday
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Topic: Refined in the Fire
Today’s Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6–9(NIV)
Bible in a Year: Psalms 97–99, Romans 16
Key Verse: These trials will show that your faith is genuine. – 1 Peter 1:7 nlt
Today’s Insight: In 1 Peter 1:8, Peter is reinforcing an important idea that goes back to the gospel of John. In John 20:29, the risen Christ said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” That includes all in our generation who have followed Jesus. While we weren’t present when He was physically on this earth, we can embrace by faith the record of Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:3–4) and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Romans 8:16) as evidence of the truth of what we’ve not seen but believed (John 16:13–15). As Paul wrote, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Our Daily Bread 17 August 2020 Devotional Message
Twenty-four–karat gold is nearly 100 percent gold with few impurities. But that percentage is difficult to achieve. Refiners most commonly use one of two methods for the purification process. The Miller process is the quickest and least expensive, but the resulting gold is only about 99.95 percent pure. The Wohlwill process takes a little more time and costs more, but the gold produced is 99.99 percent pure.
In Bible times, refiners used fire as a gold purifier. Fire caused impurities to rise to the surface for easier removal. In his first letter to believers in Jesus throughout Asia Minor (northern Turkey), the apostle Peter used the gold-refining process as a metaphor for the way trials work in the life of a believer. At that time, many believers were being persecuted by the Romans for their faith in Christ. Peter knew what that was like firsthand. But persecution, Peter explained, brings out the “genuineness of [our] faith” (1 Peter 1:7).
Perhaps you feel like you’re in a refiner’s fire—feeling the heat of setbacks, illness, or other challenges. But hardship is often the process by which God purifies the gold of our faith. In our pain we might beg God to quickly end the process, but He knows what’s best for us, even when life hurts. Keep connected to the Savior, seeking His comfort and peace.
Reflect: What challenges have you faced that led to your growth? How did you respond to them?
Pray: Father God, help me see how the trials of my life bring out the gold in me.
Linda Washington received a B.A. in English/Writing from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier, Vermont. She has authored or co-authored fiction and nonfiction books for kids, teens, and adults, including God and Me (ages 10-12—Hendrickson Rose Publishing) and The Soul of C.S. Lewis (with Jerry Root, Wayne Martindale, and others—Tyndale House).
