Spirit & Truth # 250
“Fan the Flame”
By Greg Smith
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| This is not a picture of me, but you get the idea. |
Fall
is in the air! The leaves have already changed and made a crackly carpet on my
once-green lawn. Today, I got out the
typical tools of fall, to take care of those leaves As a pastor, I can’t burn leaves just any
evening. It’s illegal to burn before 4pm, and I have meetings many evenings. Often the weather is uncooperative, and either
the leaves are too wet, or the wind is too high. So the evening has to be just right—like
tonight. It’s dry and still, and my
calendar’s clear. So I got my my rakes,
matches, and garden hose. You see, I’m a
burner, not a bagger.
My
younger son knows my technique well, so he asked me curiously, “What’s the leaf
blower for?” You see, I’m a lawnmower
man. He helped me rake out the bushes,
and watched as I sucked up the leaves with my riding mower, then put them in a
pile to burn them (very carefully). So
since I’m a lawnmower man, he wanted to know what I was going to do with the
leaf blower.
“What do you need to build a fire?” I asked
him.
If you’re a
regular reader then you remember that this same nine-year-old and I just went
camping a few weeks ago, and he built and lit his first campfire. So he knew the answer by heart: “Fuel, heat, and oxygen,” he said.
“That’s right,” I
told him. “The dry leaves are the fuel,
the matches provide the heat, but on a still night like this, we might have to
help the wind along.”[i]
You should have
seen his delight as throughout the evening I pointed my leaf blower at the
places where leaf embers had almost died.
“Woah!” he often exclaimed, as the air hit the leaves and embers ignited
in a shower of orange. Flames leapt up
and a guttering fire was once more renewed.
This is what Paul
had in mind when he said to young Timothy, “I remind you to fan into flame the
gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands (1 Timothy
1:6).” Sometimes Christians start out
well, but something hinders the fire in our hearts. Life can leave us breathless, or we can
separate ourselves from the warmth of other believers, or we might let the
devil dampen our spirits. A fire in your
heart can be a difficult thing to maintain.
It doesn’t just tend itself. You
have to watch it, nurture it, help it along.
That’s why Paul told the Thessalonians, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Like a fire, your spirit needs the warmth of
others believers, the fuel of God’s word, and the breath of the Holy Spirit to
burn inside of you. Then you’ll be able
to sing from your heart the hymn of B.B. McKinney, Breathe on Me:
Holy Spirit, breathe on me,
my stubborn will subdue;
teach me in words of living flame
what Christ would have me do.
Holy Spirit, breathe on me,
fill me with pow'r divine;
kindle a flame of love and zeal
within this heart of mine.
[i] I do not recommend that my
readers attempt this burning method at home.
This is for professional pyromaniacs only.
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