Suffering - The Refining Fire - Kids’ talk

Shrove Tuesday - The Refining Fire

We have talked a lot about fire. What is one of the most dangerous things about fire?

It is not nice to be burned right? How do you avoid being burned?

If you want to experience its heat without being burned you have to stay at the right distance - you have to have the right relationship with it.

Today, I want to talk about that wrong relationship with fire, or as it applies today, that wrong relationship with God. Too often we are either too confident or proud with God.

When we are too proud with God we say things like “I don't need you or I have done all of this on my own or I am better than other people” - the result is that we feel pain, we suffer because we are grabbing at fire we can't hold - for long.

When we are too distant from him we can feel cold, empty and our lives can feel dark - rather than simply enjoying the warmth and light of God’s presence.

All of us experience one or both of these consequences, because only Jesus had the truly right relationship with God. Yet, even Jesus suffered willingly going to his death. This tells us that there must be something good and redeeming about his suffering and ours.

This brings us to another element of fire - the refining fire.

Do you know why we cook food?

Soften it

Kill off bacteria

Remove impurity

The fire burning is good for us in this moment because it helps us to stay healthy and it gives us nutrients

The refining fire in the bible is similar and yet different. When metal is being created and formed it is heated to extreme temperatures beyond anything we have ever experienced.

This does two things. First, it allows the blacksmith to reshape and form something that is otherwise strong and hard.

Second, raw metal often has impurities called draws that need to be separated out. These impurities can drastically weaken the metal meaning that the same farming implement would last only a year vs. 100.

We can understand our struggles in life and with God in a similar way. We have thi gs in our hearts, mind and flesh that weaken us, that don't help us last or be truly strong. The struggles, the trials and the pain, if we use them to form a good relationship with God can be a way in which he strengthens us. And just like fire softens the metal so it can be reshaped, so will God use our hard times to form us into patient, considerate, purposeful people.