Is God Your Consuming Fire?

Hebrews 12:1 -  Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.

This writer doesn’t waste time or mince words.  He tells us right from the beginning of this chapter how to keep our relationship strong enough to join these great men and women of faith that have gone to Heaven before us.  The Christian life is hard work…we have to intentionally give up anything that will endanger our relationship with Christ cheerfully and willingly. We have to then use the Holy Spirit to stay focused on Jesus...and remember always that it is God’s race we are running ….not our own.

God’s race sometimes includes discipline. We need to accept it as a way to grow and learn how Jesus was able to develop the grace …love …mercy and character it took to sacrifice his life to save each and every one of us.  When we take our eyes off Jesus…bitterness…quarrels…take root and decay the work that God has already done in our heart.

We need to also remember that our actions have lasting consequences.  God washes the sin out of our hearts…but the consequences of that sin are sometimes not as easy to erase.  God intentionally leaves some of those to help remind us what he saved us from and how hard we need to work on a daily basis to stay close to him. 

I love the last verse…^” For our God is a consuming fire.”  Think about that for a moment.  God is like that Sun we depend on…it has its own source of fuel…nothing feeds it but our praise and thankfulness to him for how he saved us.  We need to let him consume our lives…feed us the stuff that will make us as strong as these men and women that made the faith hall of fame.

Father…thank you for the reminder that I must constantly guard my heart form the things that try to endanger my relationship with you.  Forgive me for the times that I stop to rest to long….let bitterness and doubt slow my feet….or simply don’t listen and obey you when I know what you want me to do. Help me to take a new grip…with my tired hands….stand firm with my shaky legs and let you mark out a smooth path for me to run. …so not just I will benefit from your love…but so all the others who watch me can find it too. Amen.