After the Fire.

Photo by Chad Peltola on Unsplash

"For our God is a consuming fire." - Hebrews 12:29

What consumables are stored in the attic of your life?

What is present in your heart and soul that has no value other than to be fuel for the fire of God passing through you?

What is taking up space in your thoughts, attentions, relationships, and routine that really needs to be burned away as the Spirit of God rages through your life?

What are you willing to throw on His altar that He might burn it way?

Our God is a consuming fire and that is not always to our disadvantage.

The other side of judgment in our lives is that once we know God through Jesus Christ, we no longer want that “old stuff” stored up in our lives. We see it as hazardous waste, no longer worthy of the storage space it occupies. It is offensive and putrefying and we want it out of our lives.

There is a problem, however. While the residue of pride in our hearts whispers to us that we can handle that mess, God knows that we cannot. Jesus came to rid us of sin and only His power can burn it out of our lives. We repent, but God removes. We can turn away from sin, but only God can eliminate its hold on our lives.

It may look like we are “reforming” from the outside, but the LORD is transforming us from the inside. Part of that process is welcoming the divine fire within. Judgment begins in the house of God, and we are grateful for it because it is the old man of sin that is being judged and he already has a death sentence over his ugly head. He is no longer worth our effort because we have new life in Christ.

Let the fire burn. It is liberating and purifying. As a forest is often regenerated by fire, so will our lives be renewed by God as He burns away all that is unworthy and plants holy seeds of newness within us.

After the fire, what remains are the seeds.