YOUR WORTH DETERMINES YOUR PAIN 3; THE CRUCIBLE

"Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of." - Charles Spurgeon

Most crucibles are made of graphite. This affords them the ability to withstand enormous heat; melting any material inside. After the gold has been taken through the painful process of breaking, by the refiner, the next stage is; The Crucible

The refiner puts the broken, crushed, unrefined ore into a “crucible”; a fireproof MELTING pot able to withstand great heat. The crucible goes into the furnace - a device used for extraction of metals from ore in refineries, and chemical plants. It's a heat source - which has enough heat necessary for expulsion of other metallic impurities undermining the quality of the gold.

Just as the furnace is used to purify gold in the crucible, God, our refiner, uses heat to purify us. You'll note that, the refiner doesn't just throw the gold into the furnace. He

WHAT ARE YOU?

“The more we love, the better we are, and the greater our friendships are, the dearer we are to God.” – Jeremy Taylor

A real friend will possess these qualities and even more which can be important for you. If you also give these qualities to your friend there is no chance that your friendship will ever break. These qualities are important for a lifetime friendship and that is what we all expect about real friendship.

Out of the furnaces of war come many true stories of sacrificial friendship. Two friends in World War 1 were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together, and fought side-by-side in the trenches. During an attack, one of the men was critically wounded in a field filled with barbed wire obstacles, he was unable to crawl back to his foxhole. The entire area was under enemy crossfire, and it was suicidal to try to reach him. Yet his friend decided to try. Before he could get out of his own trench, his sergeant yanked him back inside and ordered him not to go. “It’s too late. You can’t do him any good, and you’ll only get yourself killed.” A few minutes later, the officer turned his back, and instantly the man was gone after his friend. A few minutes later, he staggered back, mortally wounded, with his friend, now dead, in his arms. The sergeant was both angry and deeply moved. “What a waste,” he blurted out. “He’s dead and you’re dying. It just wasn’t worth it.” With almost his last breath, the dying man replied, “Oh yes, it was, Sarge. When I got to him, the only thing he said was, ‘I knew you’d come, Jim!