I was driving recently with my sister and her friend in Newfoundland when we saw this spectacular fiery spectacle of a towering cumulus cloud. The angle of the sun shining on the cloud made it seem like gold.  Actual gold is supremely valued by humankind and has been fanatically sought by many prospectors over the centuries. The wealth of nations is measured by the gold standard. The metal gold is malleable and ductile, able to be shaped and stretched without breaking. Once it is pressed, refined, and shaped according to the designer’s purpose, it emerges out of the furnace as a pure object of beauty, radiance, and of tremendous value.

   (God) knows the way that I take. When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

                       (Job 10:23 NIV)

But God offers a most amazing gift that is better than gold. According to Job 23:10, Job recognized that God’s purpose was to refine him and make him an even greater witness for His glory. Once we invite Jesus to live in our hearts and express His Divine life within us, He will also use the “furnace” of our trials and challenges to stretch, reshape and mold our hearts and characters into Christlikeness, just as he worked in the life of Job. Apart from Jesus, our minds are veiled to the truth about God and about our own spiritual condition. But as the Bible says “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, He gives freedom. And all [who trust in Jesus] have had that veil removed so we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, NLT). This radiant character of a life well lived, and a contagious joy well expressed is infinitely better than gold. Does this describe your attitude and the life you are living?  Does your life communicate the Jesus that you profess to follow?

• Next Steps:
• First, examine your heart and choose your response to God. Are you willing to let Him refine you in every circumstance so that, like Job, your life will be “as gold”—allowing Jesus to shine through you? 
• Secondly, meditate on Psalm 16:8 and Galatians 5:25. Keep your mind firmly focused on Jesus who will then use your every circumstance to test and refine you so that you will finish this life as a “mentor of gold” or radiant disciple of Jesus for others and the glory of God!