“How slow we are to learn that God is willing to go to any lengths to transform us. No matter what it costs he has set his heart on us. The cross proves his determination. He means to make us like his Son, Jesus Christ. For this is the goal of our maturity. It should not surprise us that this is an arduous process. We require a great deal of refining. Sometimes only the fires of affliction will detect the impurities in our hearts so that they may be drawn off by the divine Refiner.”216