Gold, Not Dirt
Your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold (1 Peter 1:7, NLT).
Dear friends:
The story is told about Andrew Carnegie, who at one time was the wealthiest man in America.
Carnegie came to America from his native Scotland when he was a small boy, did a variety of odd jobs, and eventually ended up as the largest steel manufacturer in the United States. At one time it is said that he had 43 millionaires working for him! In those days a millionaire was a very rare person, because $1 million in his day would be equivalent to many times that today, possibly $100 million or more.
A reporter once asked Carnegie how he had hired 43 millionaires. Carnegie responded that those men had not been millionaires when they started working for him, but had become millionaires as a result.
The reporter’s next question was, “How did you develop these men to become so valuable to you that you have paid them this much money?”
Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt. One goes in looking for gold.
Is not that the way our Lord looks at us? “He knows we are only dust (dirt)” (Psalm 103:14, NLT), but He sees more than that in us. He looks beyond the dirt and sees what is actually greater than gold — that which He is refining by the tests of faith that come to us in this world. He is preparing us for eternity.
“These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold — and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold” (1 Peter 1:7, NLT).
He says we are even more precious to Him than gold! Actually, gold is a common commodity in heaven, so common it is used as street pavement! (Revelation 21:21).
Thank God that when He looks at us in His eternal perspective through the blood-stained glasses, stained by the blood of Jesus, He does not see our dirt, but sees something more precious than gold.
Our wonderful Lord is worthy of all praise, and honor, and glory.
Yours for helping to fulfill the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
About the Author
The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, “JESUS,” which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to “Touch, Teach and Train” a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.
Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
