Wednesday, April 14: On Fire!

Do you remember what it was like soon after becoming a Christian? The world changed overnight. The greatest gift was in knowing that Jesus received the punishment for our sinful lives in the same way that we would be receiving the honor for His perfect life. Walking in that new freedom, it certainly felt to me like the weight of the world had been removed from my shoulders. After that day, I took my Bible everywhere. Being that inside that book, God was speaking to me, I was hungry to hear Him, thirsty for His words that were all that could satisfy. I wanted everyone to know His love and forgiveness in the same sense. The honeymoon began.


A good friend told me that the honeymoon would end, just as it does in any marriage, but while the everyday walk with the Lord never would be boring or monotonous, the newness would wear away. That saddened me, so I tried to keep the honeymoon alive in the same way that some married couples do, by putting a priority on the freshness of my walk with the Lord. I did that by spending my free time learning God’s Word. It is so special to be on fire for Christ in a society where we are most concerned with burning out.


Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
Exodus 3:1-3


In our Christian walks, we should be on fire for the Lord and He will not allow us to be consumed. Look at the life of the apostle Paul, who endured imprisonment, shipwreck, stoning, beating and ridicule, but kept His fire for the Lord burning brightly. Paul understood that his rest would come after the end of the race, but not before the race was run, and won, for the Lord! Are you tired? God will sustain you! Just like a runner who feels oxygen deprivation near race’s end, we need to keep running through the pain! When we get to the end, God has the best retirement plan available!