Consuming Fire part 4
Our God is a consuming fire. He goes before us, buring away (consuming) everything but Himself. Our God is love. Love goes before us, consuming everything but Himself. I always say, "Follow your heart" right? Well, if you don't let your heart lead... how can you follow it? Everyone wants to be a leader to the point where we forget about being followers of Christ. Followers... of love. Letting love lead the way. Letting love go before you. Remember when we talked about love being a shield? And about Captain America throwing his mighty shield? In sports they often say the best defense is a good offense. But they also say defense wins championships. Point being, I guess, that you need both. Love protects us, keeps us safe... but love also goes out ahead of us to light the path. And, listen, sometimes you have to go out on a limb. Because that's where the fruit is. Remember the story about Jesus preaching from a boat and He told His disciples to push out into the water. Go out a little further. Your comfort zone is comfortable. Of course it is. Otherwise it would be called something else. But there isn't a lot of growth coming from being comfortable. Growth comes from stretching yourself. From comphrehending the height, and length, and breadth, and depth of God's love for us. And the way we comprehend His love is A. By letting Him love us bigger than we ever thought possible, and B. By letting that gigantic love that's inside us come out and loving each other bigger than we ever thought possible. That's the Divine Order of things: Receiving and releasing. Letting God fill us up with His love and then loving Him back by loving people by filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. Letting it in and letting it out with every breath we take and every move we make. Letting God's love totally consume us, and then totally consuming everything in our lives WITH God's love. Focusing on what really matters--love. And then letting love dictate to everything and everybody in our lives. Letting God's love rule and reign in us and then ruling and reining on the earth by loving poeple with that love that we are loved with. The fire burns and burns, feeding on itself but not consuming itself. LOVE burns and burns, feeding on Himself but not consuming Himself. When you heap coals on fire on your enemy's head (by feeding him when he's hungry or giving him a drink when he's thirsty) you aren't trying to hurt him or punish him. You are destroying your enemy... by making him your friend. Losing an enemy and gaining a friend. By giving what you've got. By knowing (and believing) that the fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. By letting what's inside--the love that is truly inside--come out. That's what it means to be consumed by God--by love--and that's what it means to let the fire burn. Receiving it and releasing it. Letting it in and letting it out. Filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. It's not something you need. It's something you have. It's something... you are!