Fiery trials make golden Christians

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory." 2 Corinthians 4:17

Oh Christians! under your greatest troubles, lie your greatest treasures.

"It is good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes." Psalm 119:71

By the greatest affliction, God teaches us the greatest instruction.

When a believer lies under God's hand which afflicts him, he lies in God's heart which loves him.

Afflictions are good, but not pleasant.
Sin is pleasant, but not good.

There is more evil in a drop of sin, than there is in a sea of afflictions.

God by affliction separates the sin He hates so deadly, from the soul He loves so dearly.

The believer studies more how to adorn the cross, than how to avoid the cross.

Tell me, oh believer--is not Christ with His cross, better than the world with its crown?

"God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10

Suppose, Christian, that the furnace is hot, seven times hotter, it is but to make you seven times more holy. Fiery trials make golden Christians. Sin has brought many a believer unto suffering, and suffering has kept many a believer from sinning. It is better to be preserved in brine, than to rot in honey.

"I know, O Lord, that Your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness You have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75