Refiner of Hearts
Our hearts are a big deal to God! Jesus once said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). In other words, what owns your heart is what you value most, which in turn controls your life.
God is searching for hearts that value him most. Second Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
The Heart
God desires our hearts! God knows that whatever has taken up residence in our hearts is our god. In the Bible, the heart is the center of spiritual life; it’s the fountain of thoughts, passions, desires, emotions, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors. If God owns our heart, then all of that belongs to him.
Scripture tells us repeatedly that God wants to take possession of our stubborn, evil hearts, but it’s difficult when we are kicking and screaming.
There is a story of a mechanic who was working on a car motor when he spotted a world famous heart surgeon enter his shop. The surgeon stood at the counter, waiting for the service manager to look at his car. The mechanic shouted across the garage, “Hello, doctor! Could you please come on over here for a minute?” The famous surgeon was a bit surprised, but walked over to the mechanic. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag, and said, “Look at this here. I also open hearts, take out valves and put in new parts. When I finish, this will work just like a new one. So how come you get the really big money, when you and I are doing basically the same work?” The doctor smiled and responded, “Try doing it with the engine running!”
No doubt, what mechanics do with car engines is fantastic, and what doctors do with physical hearts is incredible, but what God does with spiritual hearts is miraculous. God would look at both the mechanic and the doctor and say, “Try doing it while the car is speeding away or while your patient is unwilling!”
God desires to give us a new heart and a new spirit so that we can be fully devoted to him and develop and intimate relationship with him. God says:
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek. 36:23-29)
When we commit our life to Christ, he becomes our heart.
The Refining
Even after we receive our new heart, we battle with our desire to be fully committed to God. This longing is often overshadowed by our desire for self-fulfillment (or our self-god). Therefore, the spirit of Christ is in us, constantly refining our hearts so that they are a mirror image of his own heart. Consider this passage:
And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The LORD is my God.” (Zech. 13:9)
This refining process can be like that of a silversmith or goldsmith. Consider these six stages:
The Breaking
The refiner breaks up the natural ore. In biblical times, a refiner began by breaking up rough ore, hardened rock encased with common minerals such as tin or zinc, which also had the promise of valuable metals hidden within – metals like gold and silver. We are rough rock in need of God’s refining fire, and our stone hearts need to be broken before the refining can begin. “‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” (Jer. 23:29).
The Crucible
The refiner places unrefined silver into a crucible. The refiner puts the crushed ore into a fireproof melting pot able to withstand extreme heat. Then he places this crucible into the furnace at the precise temperature necessary for removing other metals that would mar the quality of the gold or silver. Just as the furnace purifies silver in the crucible, God purifies our hearts and cleanses our character. Proverbs 17:3 says, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”
The Dross
The refiner places the crucible in the furnace to remove dross. As the ore melts under the refiner’s watchful eye, a layer of impurities called dross forms on the surface. The Bible says, “Remove the dross from the silver, and a silversmith can produce a vessel” (Prov. 25:4). For us, dross represents any wrong motive, attitude, or action that keeps us from being who God created us to be.
The Heat
The refiner raises the temperature. After the refiner skims off the impurities, he increases the heat and places the crucible back into the blistering furnace. Again and again, impurities rise to the surface. Psalm 12:6 says, “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.”
The Purification
The refiner continues to remove the impurities. With utmost skill and patience, the refiner removes the dross, leaving behind gleaming gold or shimmering silver, purer and more precious than before. To gauge his progress, the refiner looks for his own reflection on the surface of the silver or gold. The purer the metal, the less distorted his reflection. The Bible says God sits over the refining process to purify us, “he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
The Reflection
The refiner sees a clear image of himself. Only then is the process complete. As we trust our refiner to use the “furnace of affliction” to cleanse our character and purify our hearts, we will begin to see the silver lining. Isaiah 48:10 says, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”
Consider these questions:
Are you allowing God to take control of your heart, or are you holding on to your control?
Are you allowing God to perform a heart transplant on you, or are you an unwilling participant?
Are you allowing God to refine your heart so that you can be a pure reflection of him, or are you running from the flames?
