My last couple of posts should have made it pretty clear where my thoughts are. I've been thinking about starting some fires. Not in the arsonist, get yourself arrested kind of way, but in the revival, display the Glory of God way.
I am naturally drawn to fires. I would much rather leave the damper open on the woodstove, go through multiple cords of wood, and have to open the windows to cool the house off while I watch the orange flames lick up every stitch of wood, all the while radiating a penetrating heat, than I would dampen the stove down and watch it make charcoal.
Sitting around a campfire in the evening watching the flames dance and curl around the logs is hypnotic. I find it difficult to tear my eyes off the flickering flames. Long after the campfire conversations have died down, and friends have made their way back to their camping accommodations, I enjoy just sitting quietly by the fire watching the flames and glowing embers.
It is quite easy to build a large, sustained blaze in a woodstove or campfire ring. Starting a fire in real life in the hearts and minds of people is more difficult.
Emerson and I once went to a father and son retreat at Camp Homewood and we played this great late night game. The object of the game was to start a fire, and build it to a certain size. We were given a couple small pieces of wood, a bit of paper, a couple of matches, a few water balloons and taken to our campfire ring in the dark. We could start our fire immediately, but we might not have enough wood to sustain it, and we certainly didn't have enough wood to build it the necessary size so we needed to get more fuel for our fire. Hidden throughout the darkened woods were fuel stations where we could pick up one piece of wood at a time and take back to our fire. This seems simple enough except there were some obstacles in our way. As well as the water balloons that each team had to try and extinguish the other teams fire, there were individuals whose goal was to catch us and take our wood. Facing these obstacles we had to start, and sustain, a fire until it could grow to a certain size.
We quickly had to determine our strategy. Were we going to go on the defensive and spend our efforts putting out fires, or were we going to go on the offensive and focus our energies on building our fire. We decided to focus on building our fire and when/if we needed to we would try to dampen, or extinguish, the other fires.
That night, that strategy worked to perfection and we won the game.
I like that strategy. I like to live by that strategy. I don't know that I have been for awhile.
I think I've been putting my energies towards putting out fires instead of starting them.
It is definitely time for a change. I want to marshall the majority of my energies towards starting a fire. Along the way, when/if the need arises, I will certainly work to put out fires, but I don't want to live there.
Hebrews 12:29 says that God is a consuming fire. As I spend time with Him, and draw others to Him (just like finding wood in the game), a blaze will begin to burn and grow. That blaze will display a glowing light into the dark, and radiate a comforting heat into the cold of our world. People will be drawn to it. God will get the glory.
My mind is made up. It is definitely time to start some fires, and I am starting with myself.
What about you? Are you tired of running around putting out fires? Has living on the defensive grown weary yet?
Let's draw near to God and allow Him to consume our lives and set us ablaze for His glory.
ps. thanks for reading such a long post.
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