“Since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.”  Hebrews 12:28-29

Curling Iron

My daughter likes to watch me get ready in the morning. She is fascinated by all of the processes I put myself through to look presentable. Once, as she watched me curl my hair, she asked, “After you curl that, will you burn your fingers if you touch your hair?” She knows that the curling iron is hot and that she is not to touch it. I told her, “No, the curling iron stays hot, but my hair is not.”

“Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart” (Proverbs 17:3).

The concept of our God being a fire can be very scary. But the fire of God does not harm us. It purifies us by removing the bad and burning those things away. “I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all of your impurities” (Isaiah 1:25).

We don’t have to fear this process because God knows how much we can handle. “For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:14).

My daughter was correct in assuming that I could burn my hair if I was not careful or didn’t know what I was doing. But I know how long to hold each section of hair up to the iron and when to let it go. This same concept is true about God. He could burn us up if He wanted, but that is not His desire. His desire is to make us more and more like His Son. He is beautifying our hearts just like I use my curling iron to beautify my hair. When I am done using the curling iron, my hair is obeying me. It is not flying off in random directions. It is conformed to the shape I have desired.

But what if I only curled half of my hair, and the left the rest messy? Or what if I randomly chose sections to beautify but not others? Wouldn’t it look much worse than if I hadn’t even started? I never do my hair halfway. In the same way, “…I am certain that God, Who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6).

Someone might not like my hairdo. Sometimes I use a straightening iron or blow dryer instead. But I style it the way I choose, regardless of someone else’s criticism. 

Let’s not compare our own process with someone else’s. God knows how He wants us to look, and the only opinion that matters is HIS.

“Dear heavenly Father, thank You for gently shaping us into the image of Jesus. We trust our lives to the heat of Your consuming fire. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”