Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 5:16, 1 Cor. 4:9, Eph.

3:10, Job 23:1–10, Matt. 25:1–12, Dan. 12:1–10, Eph. 4:11–16.

Memory Text: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mir-

ror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image

from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians

3:18, NKJV).

Amy Carmichael took a group of children to a traditional gold-

smith in India. In the middle of a charcoal fire was a curved

roof tile. On the tile was a mixture of salt, tamarind fruit, and

brick dust. Embedded in this mixture was gold. As the fire devoured the

mixture, the gold became purer. The goldsmith took the gold out with

tongs and, if it was not pure enough, he replaced it in the fire with a new

mixture. But each time the gold was replaced, the heat was increased.

The group asked, “How do you know when the gold is purified?” He

replied, “When I can see my face in it.”—Amy Carmichael, Learning of

God (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1989), p. 50.

God is seeking to purify us, to refine us like gold, to transform us

into His image. That’s an astonishing goal, and it seems even more

astonishing that a Christlike character is developed in us only as we

pass through life’s crucibles.

The Week at a Glance: What role does suffering have in

the purifying process? How do we understand all this in the context

of the great controversy?