The Refiners Fire Is Like A Silversmith Who Burns Out Your Dross

"The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." The Songs They Could Not Sing; Elder Quentin L. Cook

The Refiner's Fire Is Real

The refiner's fire can be compared to a silversmith. A silversmith burns the impurities of silver out by placing the piece of silver in the middle of the flame where it is the hottest. He doesn't take his eyes off the silver and waits until he can see his image. Once he sees his image he knows the piece of silver is finished and ready to take out.

A couple important principles we can learn from the refiner's fire process.

The first principle is God will not leave you alone. He will not throw you into the fire and then walk away only to see burning in ashes. Knowing that God will not take His eye off you is significant because it means you can face any and all affliction and be ok. It means you can live a life without fear or anxiety because God is with you especially when you feel that He is not. I think the most powerful people who make the greatest difference have a high tolerance for pain. That doesn't mean they seek out pain, it means they don't murmur or run from it. They may even have a measure of gratitude for it.

The Refiner's Fire Purifies and Perfects You

The scriptures say if you have a pure heart you can see God. See 3 Nephi 12:8, Matthew 5:8, D&C 56:18, D&C 97:16. It also prepares you to meet God. There are tremendous fruits or benefits from knowing God. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin a modern day prophet in his talk Our Lord And Savior said we should move beyond knowing about God to actually knowing him and then listed off a few fruits of knowing Him, which I list a few here;

• Eternal life.
• To think what He thinks.
• To feel what He feels.
• To enjoy and experience the same things they do.

Elder Wirthlin listed several more, but I invite you to read over the list I gave here and think deeply and ponder what it would be to like acquire these fruits for yourself. Write your thoughts, feelings and impressions out. Writing and writing some more is a key skill to receive personal individualized revelation. I also invite you to read his entire talk and ponder over it.

Perfection And Purification

Everything has a price and personal righteousness is no different. Perfection is not living without mistakes or even to be completely without sin. Perfection is to be complete or whole and I would add blameless.

This quote from Elder Cook is a reason to be grateful for affliction. Elder Cook is not the first prophet to teach that growth is more likely to happen by trial made in the refiner's fire.