Burning Away the Dross

1 Nephi 20:10

For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

We all get to experience the furnace of affliction and the refiner's fire, but God does not choose us all. Just because we suffer does not qualify us to be God's chosen people. 

It is only when I allow the fire to work properly in my life that God chooses me. Only when I am truly refined will I come into God's presence. 

On the other hand, I can simply burn to a cinder, leaving nothing redeemable in the ashes of my afflictions except bitterness and anger. God doesn't choose bitter, angry people. He chooses the brilliant, priceless nuggets that He can pull from the ashes to make up His jewels. 

I don't get to choose the furnace in which I am fired, but I get to choose the resulting product. 

God will choose me when I choose Him over the empty coals of a blasted life. When I want what God wants, He can do marvelous things with me. The hotter the fire, the faster and more thoroughly the dross is burned away, and the more brilliantly I will shine.

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