At the Crossroads of Refined & Wasted: How to respond to the Heat of a Trial

I Peter 1:6-9 "Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

I'm pretty sure no one woke up this morning and said, "I think I'm gonna go find me a trial today and take it head on."  A trial is not something that we seek out and desire to go through.  It is though a stretch on the highway of life that we all must face from time to time.  Consider it a type of road construction.  Yes, road construction!  No one likes it, but it is necessary.

A trial is described here in our scripture passage this morning in such beautiful light.  Peter tells us first off that trials are temporary, they will not last forever.  The phrase, "if need be" is very important to take note of.  While none of us ever desire to go through trials, they are sometimes necessary for us to travel through in order to grow our faith in Christ.  The trial of faith is an amazing process.  Peter likens it to how gold is refined.  Gold is one of the most precious metals on earth, it's value is compared to very few things and here Peter tells that our trials are more precious than the gold we covet.  He goes on to tell us that it is precious because when we go through the heat & fire of the trial, the outcome is expected to bring glory back to Christ. 

There is another very important aspect of going through this construction zone of life.  This one, may very well be the difference between being refined or being wasted.  Our response to the heat of the trial is more important than the trial itself.  Peter uses a phrase that we don't like to consider when going through a trial, and he even uses it more than one time.  "Greatly rejoice," he said.  Finding the joy in the trial will be difference between being refined or being wasted.  He went on to say that we should rejoice with "Joy unspeakable and full of glory."  When we learn to rejoice in our lives, even in the midst of the trial that we may be in, we can know for certain, that we will be refined like fine gold and not wasted and discarded. Our rejoicing through the trial will bring us to praise the name of our wonder God.

As you come to the crossroads of refined or wasted, don't let the heat scare you into turning the wrong way.  Face the trial head on and rejoice. Don't be tempted to turn down Satan's detour that he will place along the way.  Just keep on going through, rejoicing as you go until you reach the end of that particular journey of increasing your faith in Christ.