okay buddy, where's the fire?

although we sing songs like light the fire again, rarely are we actually seeing ourselves being engulfed by a pillar of fire like the one conjured by my friend in this video.

it's more symbolic.

in scripture, fire is a powerful symbol, used in one of three ways:
1) representing God’s presence and holiness
(e.g. Exodus 3.1-6- burning bush; 13.21- pillar of fire night)
2) representing God’s anger and attitude towards sin
(e.g. Genesis 19.24- destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah)
3) representing purification, testing and refining
(e.g. 1 Kings 18.38- Mt Carmel; Revelation 3.17-18- Gold)

however, there is a related word which is often used in a much different way in scripture: the word burn. burn is often used as an emotional word to describe intense feeling, opinion or desire…
(e.g.Song of Solomon 8.5-7; Luke 24.32- Jesus’ words)

burn refers to the fire of passion that burns within and demands by its very nature, some form of outward expression…and it is used to describe these things in people, not just in God.

we need to ask not only ‘where’s the fire’
but also ‘what does it imply about us and for our behaviour?’

God had a purpose in giving you your inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat reveals a very important key to understanding his intentions for your life. (Rick Warren)

but when we speak of someone’s passion, what are we really talking about? when we say “she’s very passionate about that” or “it’s my passion,” what do we actually mean?

we read God’s words through the prophet jeremiah about ‘heart circumcision’ (jeremiah 4.4) and at first it's just a rather awkward metaphor conjuring up mental images of scalpels and elective surgical procedures to today's mind. we need to take into account everything leading up to the statement in order to understand its implication.

if we look at those four verses, we can see a little more clearly what was going on. the first bits speak of how a return to God was needed involving some repentance. promises and oaths needed to be reaffirmed in order for the relationship to be restored, for there had been a lot of promise breaking. a radical breaking of hearts was needed, resulting in deeper obedience and ultimately an inside-out change in the very identity of the heart of the nation that would be recognized not merely outwardly, but by those who knew the people most intimately.

circumcision is a loaded word. outwardly there was no evidence that a jew was circumcised. he wouldn't saunter bow-leggedly down the street displaying his gear for all to see. everyone knew that to be a jewish male was to have this mark. however, there was no hiding or disguising it from those most intimately acquainted with the man.

circumcision of the heart would be the same. any outward evidence of it would be superficial at best. however, for those most intimately acquainted with the heart of a person, the passion and submission of that passion to almighty God would be impossible to hide or fake.

there's something more: to be in all ways given over to God's will, God's bigger agenda is to see our larger purpose realized in our faithfulness- as we read in psalm 37.4-5



recently there was a great example of the giving over of the passion of the one to the greater purpose of the many in game 7 of the 2009 stanley cup final series between pittsburgh and detroit. late in the second period of this hockey game, pittsburgh's captain, sidney crosby, was taken out against the boards. as he hobbled off the ice, many speculations were made by commentators and bookies alike concerning his involvement in the final twenty minutes of the game and his team's hope of sustaining their rather tentative lead without their key leader and playmaker.

as the third period got underway, crosby did a bit of skating, but it was unconvincing. as he lined up for the first face-off of his first shift, it was very clear that there was something wrong, and although he survived that shift, everyone knew he was done. although he was still faster and stronger and more intuitive that any of the boys on our church hockey team, he wasn't the sidney crosby that his team was going to need to win the game.

upon leaving the ice, he shrunk back on the bench, his head bowed and his face grimacing in agony- not simply because of the tremendous pain he was enduring, but because he knew that he was done. everything that made him captain of this stanley cup bound team was telling him that for him to pursue his personal passion for playing hockey was to leave his passion for leadership and the desire to lead his team to a stanley cup victory unrealized and unexpressed. so he did what any great leader would do. he led his team to victory by staying off the ice for the rest of the game.

when our passion to do is outranked by our passion to be, we can be part of something bigger- something that is larger than our skillset, interests, education and experience can see through to realization. someone posited recently that there is a fine line between passion and addiction, but that line separates that which burns brightly for all to see, serving as a beacon of truth the way Jesus suggests in Matthew 5.14-16 when he speaks of being the light of the world, and simply being destroyed by a flame that eventually goes out when the fuel is consumed anyway.

so we need to ask:
Q: what passions burn within us that can be used of God if surrendered to him?
Q: what passion has us in its grip in an unhealthy way because it is yet to be redeemed?
Q: what sacrifice is God calling us into as we circumcise our hearts?

Don’t let my love grow cold
I’m calling out: Light the fire again
Don’t let my vision die
I’m calling out: Light the fire again
You know my heart, my deeds
I’m calling out: Light the fire again
I need your discipline
I’m calling out: Light the fire again
(brian doerkson)