The Grinch And Job

I know I already referenced the Grinch once in the last week, but I was thinking about how it relates to the story of Job, and also to the purification of the refiner's fire. When the Grinch took away everything that looked Christmassy, all the ribbons and tags and packages, boxes and bags, Christmas came just the same. Similarly, in the story of Job, Satan claims that Job only worships the Lord because of his camels and sheep and other worldly possessions. So the Lord allows to be taken away Job's possessions and then his family and friends and even his health. But Job remained faithful just the same. When the Lord chooses us in the furnace of affliction and purifies us in the refining fire, He does this out of mercy and love, not anger or cruelty or malice. He wants to show us our faith at its purest form. He wants to show us that we can go on loving and believing in Christ and the great plan of happiness even without our wealth or our health. Like the who's down in Whoville we can still embrace the Spirit of Christmas even if we have nothing but the purest form of Christmas Spirit with no trees or presents or music to prop it up. Like Job, we can declare that though skin worms destroy our body, yet in our flesh we shall see God. We all have doubts or fears that if we lost this career or that loved one, or if we went through some particular trial we would not be strong enough, our faith would not hold. These are dross and slag clinging to our souls, weighing us down and obscuring our brilliance. But when God burns all of these doubts away, we come out as pure gold, gleaming and letting our light shine before the world. It isn't fun or easy in the refiner's fire, but if we're being honest, neither was it fun or easy lugging around all those doubts and fears, all those sins which do so easily beset us. If we feel like we can't take the heat, that is our fear and doubt melting away and burning off, and as scary and overwhelming as it seems, God will be with us in the furnace, ready to pull us out just as soon as our impurities have been cleansed. And like the Who's in Whoville, and like Job, we will receive more in our later half and get back more than we had to sacrifice, but we will know in our pure and refined core that we don't need any blessings or outward signs of wealth or success to love and have faith in God.