Thursday, May 3, 2012

Experiences Make Faith Stronger

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. -- 1 Peter 1:6-7

There are few people around who don’t wish they could somehow go back and wipe out at least part of their past. We’ve all done something we wish we hadn’t. We’ve all done things we don’t want others to know.

And we’ve all felt the weight of judgment on our shoulders. Someone makes an offhand comment about not knowing anyone who has ever done what we’ve done or been where we’ve been. And we sit there silently, afraid to speak and yet wanting to shock their condescending hearts into somehow understanding that real people, good people, make mistakes.

A dear friend recently faced just such a situation. She did something more than 20 years ago. She is a different person now. No one would ever know. But she knows. And she wonders if her silence just reinforces that secret culture that makes Christians think we’re somehow better than we really are.

Because we are all sinners. And sin is sin, no matter how much we’d like to categorize it as “my sin isn’t as bad as someone else’s sin.” But it is.

So does silence mean that we’re saying it’s okay to prejudge? Does keeping secrets make abuse okay? We look around and we see perfect people because their brokenness is hidden. They fear condemnation and rejection. We all do. Because isn’t that what happens when people see our scars?

Except we wouldn’t be the people we are today without the pasts we try so hard to hide. All those mistakes, all those heartaches, work together to turn us into the people we are today. How could we ever appreciate the good, the true, the Holy, without first having experienced the bad, the lies, the darkness?

The fire that comes from trials is what God uses to refine us, to make us stronger and to draw us closer to Him. Just as fire heats gold, sending its impurities to the top, so does God sift us, separating the good from the flawed. It is a painful process but the end result is someone who is of far more use to God than we were before.

So wear your scars without shame. Jesus paid your debt and stands by your side. You have been refined by fire and you are more precious to God than gold.