Don't Play With Fire

Last week, the weather was NICE! I went outside and spent most of one day raking the yard for the last time, power washing my back porch and a few other outside chores. I moved some stumps and logs into a pile from when I built my house and started some leaves on fire in that area. I went to check on Abby, who was playing in the sandbox. I played with her for a minute and then went to check on the fire and realized - it had spread outside of my pile into the leaves in my back yard. I grabbed my rake and began raking into the fire but it was bigger and spreading faster than I could rake. I connected three water hoses together and still could not reach the fire's edge. I managed to put out the fire on the sides and the back but the front continued to burn into the woods. I had no choice but to call the Fire Department. I tried to put it out, but between watching my 3 year old and the fast pace of the fire, I was out of options. They Fire Department arrived and the fire was out in a matter of minutes. Good thing I paid my dues to the FD.

The Bible says, "Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke." (Isaiah 9:18). Sin spreads like a fire. It only grows bigger and out of control. We tend to think we can "manage" our sins. But the result is we get burned in the end. Destruction and devastation are the result of sin. I think that is why the writer of Isaiah compared sin and wickedness to a fire.

We can't hide fire. Speaking about the sin of adultery, the writer of Proverbs says: "Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?" (Proverbs 6:27) You can't play with sin - you will get burned.

It is also true that where there is smoke, there is fire. We may think that our sin is no big deal - after all, it is only a little smoke. Have you ever smelled someone who has been near a fire - they stink like smoke. Smoke kills as much or more than a real fire does.

There is one fire though that should consume you - God. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:28-29, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."

Let the fire of God consume you, not the destructive fire of sin. Do you want to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken? Are you worshiping God with reverence and awe? He wants to consume your life.

What sin is making you smell like smoke? You probably can't smell it, but everyone else can. What sin is burning down the righteous life God desires for you? Confess it to Him today and He will forgive you (1 John 1:9).