Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29When I was a young boy, my brother and I had a winter-time ritual. We would sit with our backs to the fire in the fireplace, warming ourselves until we could stand it no further and then we would run to the bathroom and lie down in the coolness of the bathtub. Then, when our backsides had recovered, we would go back and try it again. It was a silly game, but then again, brothers are competitive in a lot of ways.
How many times have I heard that people want to be on fire for God? To burn for Him because our God is a consuming fire. But they also want it to be painless. Like my fireplace, we want to stay close to God until we can't stand it and then go cool off. We want a campfire, marshmallow-roast, Ben-Gay warm spiritual experience, at our convenience. We are fascinated by the finite and the futile and flammable.
...each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. - 1 Corinthian 3:14-15The truth is, God's fire is painful because we are too invested in the chaff. Eugene Peterson says, "Chaff driven by the wind is the closest description of nothing that is available to the imagination. No weight, meaning or use....Does chaff exist? It is the dried-up husk of something that once bloomed, bore fruit, and brightened the landscape."[1]
We cling to chaff...to nothing. We have put so much of our heart into it that when it burns, we are seared. When the things that can be burned have been burned, what God has been forming in us remains.
In forest areas in the United States, forestry officials use controlled burns to reduce the impact of wildfires and prompt the natural cycle of regrowth. "Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones, such as those of Lodgepole Pine and Sequoia, are serotinous, as well as many chaparral shrubs, meaning they require heat from fire to open cones to disperse seeds."[2]
It is a dangerous prayer to tell God that you wish to be on fire for Jesus. God does not commit random acts, nor malicious arson, but rather uses controlled burns that leave the long-term growth potential placed in us by the life-giving Spirit unveiled. Are you willing to pray this serious prayer?
[1]Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire, "Psalm 1: Blessed"
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_burn, retrieved on 1 October 2017
