Stoking~

November 4, 2013

Evan comes home from Bible Study, and says upon walking in from the frigid outside, that he is sleeping in the fireplace warmed living room.  To which I replied, I thought you liked sleeping in the cold?  He said yes, or when I can sleep with no blanket.  I told him that he better bring a blanket out, because as soon as the fire goes out, it will get cold.  That's the thing with fireplaces.  If you don’t get up during the night and add wood and stoke it up, it will burn out.  He said “that fireplace needs Jesus!”  I asked him if that is all it took to keep the fire burning was Jesus?  

I love practical life lessons.  This is the way it is with our lives if we have asked Jesus to live in our hearts.  If we expect the fire within to never go out without stoking, or adding fuel, we are sadly mistaken.  It is not just a onetime thing where you add some fuel, or proclaim it and it burns forever.  It takes work on our part.  In order for this fireplace to continue to warm our home, and keep providing warmth, then we must add wood, and stoke it to keep it going.  Same as our Spiritual life, in order for our hearts to not grow cold, we must add fuel.  Fuel in the form of: keeping in communication with our Lord, studying His word, praying, fellowshipping with others, etc… Thank You God for visuals and parallels that show me the importance of fueling the fire within so that it doesn’t die out.  In Jesus Name, Amen

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2: 12-13).