Pilot Light

I have a very lovely stone fireplace in my home that I never use. It’s not broken. It’s not complicated to use either. There’s a convenient little switch on the wall next to the stonework and if you walk over close enough to peek behind the first log, you’ll see the pilot light flickering day and night, and there’s plenty of natural gas in the underground tank. So why haven’t I used it when the temperatures have dipped into the teens recently?

I would love to be sitting by the fireside on winter evenings reading my Bible and writing long after everyone else is in bed but every time I’ve switched on the logs in the past, one smoke alarm after the next sounds throughout the house. We were told that the coating just needed to burn off the logs, so the first winter after we built, we opened all the doors and let the logs burn and burn and burn. After trying this for several days with the same result, we reasoned that we rarely have severely cold winters here in the south and we’d only try them again if the power was out. Then we got a generator, so we’ve never used the gas logs again.

With our recent severe weather, we never lost power but I sat staring at the fireplace, longing for the cozy warmth it adds to the room. As I sat brooding, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to a spiritual truth I often overlook. I lament the lack of light and warmth from an appliance that doesn’t function as it should while never mourning the fact that we fail to let our light shine though God has planted eternity in the hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) of His creation and we are meant to radiate His light and love to the world. As His children, we have His Spirit in us. It’s not difficult to fan into flame. A daily dose of His Word and conversation with our Maker will suffice to fuel the fire, but how many of us have lost our first love? (Revelation 2:4) Have we listened more to the alarms going off in our heads signaling who may take offense or have we experienced so much noise when we allow the Spirit to lead that we’ve made one excuse or another for quieting His still, small voice?

I find myself guilty of quenching the Spirit all too often, sometimes by merely waiting too long to speak or act. (I Thessalonians 5:19) Once the urgency passes, I can reason myself out of it, much like the mental conversation we have with ourselves when we pass a highway patrol on the freeway. Whether or not you were speeding, your foot comes off the gas and you glance quickly in the rear view mirror for a flashing light or tail lights signaling a turn around. Seeing neither, you sigh with relief and return your gaze to the road and replace your foot on the accelerator, the moment behind you.

My prayer today is that encounters with God’s Spirit will cause me to not only remove my foot from the accelerator, but will bring me to a screeching halt mid-step, no matter how much of a collision I create. May I remember God’s Word to Samuel when Israel demanded a king. “They are rejecting Me, not you. They don’t want Me to be their King any longer.” (I Samuel 8:7)

““If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world.

I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

Do you remember what I told you?

‘A slave is not greater than the master.’

Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you.

And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”

John 15:18-21 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.15.21.NLT

Jesus tells us we are to be the light of the world because He is the Light of the world. (John 8:12, Matthew 5:14) In Him, we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28) We can take Him at His Word.

““When these things begin to happen, watch out!

You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues.

You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers.

But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.

For the Good News must first be preached to all nations.

But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say.

Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”

Mark 13:9-11 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.13.9-11.NLT

I also pray for those in whom God’s Spirit dwells, but who look and sound exactly like the world around them, having long ago doused the Spirit by their own disobedience or poor diet in His Word. I pray that the tiny flame that is the Spirit of God will ignite a blaze in their hearts and minds and set off a few alarms.

And for those far from God, I pray their eyes and ears will be opened to the voice and call of God as they sit near those of us who are listening and obeying, no matter the cost. Just maybe being stuck in traffic, wondering what’s causing the hold up, is exactly where they need to be.

““His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.”

Acts of the Apostles 17:27 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/act.17.27.NLT

“You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves.

We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.

This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

We continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”

We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.

All of this is for your benefit.

And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

That is why we never give up.

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.”

2 Corinthians 4:5-7, 13-16 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.4.5-16.NLT

Fan the Flame. Be the Light.