Are You in the Melting Pot?

“For everyone will be purified with fire.” (Mark 9:49)

The offerings given to the Lord by fire were “very pleasing to him.” (Numbers 29)

“Anything made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead – metals that do not burn – must be passed through the fire in order to be made ceremonially pure.” (Numbers 31:22-23)


Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead will not burn, but each has a melting point at which they will become a liquid. Have you ever watched a program on the process it takes to melt iron to make steel? The temperatures of these huge, inferno melting pots can harm the workers wearing sophisticated protection gear if they get too close. Surely a glimpse of what the “fires” of hell must be like, only non-consuming?

Metals may look clean and pure on the surface, in their solid form. However, when melted down, the impurities come to the surface. I remember watching Ken make fishing sinkers out of lead. He would melt the lead on the stove top and then pour the liquid into molds to make the size and shape sinker he wanted. However, before he would mold the liquid lead, he would skim off the impurities, making the finished product stronger.

“For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebr. 12:29).

God is a consuming fire but He is also a God of compassion and grace! His presence in our lives makes us pliable for His shaping . . . for us to conform to His image, to His righteousness . . . if we let Him.

Are you currently in the melting pot? I am.