I'm on Fire

This morning I had a dream of asking rock singer Bruce Springsteen what inspired him to write his classic hit “I’m on Fire.” When I woke up, I immediately thought about how God wants us on fire for Him. In Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16, John the Baptist prophesied the coming Messiah “…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” The Greek word for fire is pyr (pronounced “poor”). That same word is used in Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Many people get fired up for the wrong things. One of them is “saving the planet.” 2 Peter 3:12 says we should be “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?”

So how does one become “on fire” for God? One way is to speak Scriptural promises over yourself instead of death and destruction. James 3:5-6 says, “Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.”

1 Peter 1:7 talks about our faith being “tested by fire.” We can either get on fire for God in this life or suffer the consequences of eternal fires. Some Christians will discover their worldly pursuits won’t produce any everlasting legacy. Look at 1 Corinthians 3…

13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 

14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 

15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Even more tragic is many lost people will find themselves suffering in a lake of fire for eternity because they rejected the free gift of salvation. 2 Peter 3:7 says, “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The Good News is you don’t have to be one of them. Receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and live a life burning for Him.

“Never let the fire in your heart go out. Keep it alive. Serve the Lord.” - Romans 12:11 (New International Reader's Version)

Holy Fire?

This Saturday will be the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In response, a church in Gainesville, Florida is planning to burn copies of the Koran. Senior Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center has declared, "It is indeed a radical message but a very clear, radical message to Muslims, to Sharia law, that that is not welcome in America." This upcoming event has drawn protests from both Christians and Muslims. The city of Gainesville has refused to grant a burn permit to Dove World Outreach Center. Nevertheless, the church is going forward with its “International Burn A Koran Day.”

One might point out there is a Scriptural precedent for burning books that oppose God’s word. Acts chapter 19 describes a group of sorcerers in Ephesus who publicly renounced their faith in the occult…

18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.

19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.

20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

Once I attended a church service on Halloween night where congregation members brought books, records, and other non-Christian materials to be burned. If an ex-Muslim carried his copy of the Koran to such a gathering, I would be supportive of his decision to burn it. Otherwise, that unused Koran could fall into the hands of someone who becomes deceived into following its false doctrine.

But as a fellow minister of the gospel, I do not support Dove World Outreach Center’s “International Burn A Koran Day.” Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Pastor Jones himself stated, “Most people who criticize are also the people who don’t do anything…If they do not like our method, then they should do something themselves.” He even suggested Christians going door-to-door distributing Christian literature about the love of Jesus. That’s certainly a better way to reach out to Muslims with the gospel. The Great Commission does not include burning books.

A century before the Nazis took control of Germany, Heinrich Heine (a German Jew who converted to Christianity) prophetically wrote, “Where books are burned, they will, in the end, burn people, too.” Rather than burning Korans, I advise the congregation of Dove World Outreach Center to focus on getting the word of God burning in people’s hearts.

“And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’ - Luke 24:32