What's Burning?

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:29

I walked outside the other day and the sky was filled with smoke. I listened for firetrucks as I was certain that something was burning near by. I came to find out that the smoke wasn’t from a fire near by but rather from the wildfires that are burning literally hundreds of miles away in the northern part of our state. As I thought about the smoke traveling such a great distance an old saying popped into my head, “where there is smoke there is fire” along with a quote by Leonard Ravenhill, a noted revivalist who once said, “You never have to advertise a fire.” I thought to myself, it’s so true as I can remember how when I was just a young boy my Mom would load me and my three siblings into the car just to drive out to the foothills near our home when she saw smoke rising in the sky. The fire Leonard Ravenhill speaks of is our passion for the Lord. The beauty of passion is within it there is both intensity and desire.

John Wesley once remarked about his own life, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” He also would say, “I set myself on fire (through prayer) and people come to watch me burn (speaking of his burning with passion at the teaching and preaching of God’s Word). Did you know that the word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, “en” and “theos” which means “in God”. That’s right, the most enthusiastic people walking the face of the earth are those who are living for God with passion and intensity. It’s pretty simple, focus on living for Jesus and the enthusiasm will naturally follow. It really is like that old saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire!” They go hand in hand.

Jesus said of those of us whose lives belong to Him that we are like a city set on a hill that can’t be hidden. Believe it or not God saved you to show you off, He wants our lives to be like smoke that draws people to seek out the fire God has lit within us. That’s what the word sanctified means, “set apart”. God has set you apart for His own good pleasure, you are His prized possession, a trophy of His amazing grace that He wants all the world to see. I love that old saying, “Their walk was so loud you couldn’t hear them speak”. May our love for Jesus be the passion of our lives that sets us ablaze so bright that the world can’t help but notice, Christ in you the hope of glory!  


“And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

I LOVE YOU!