Consumed by God for God

“For our God is a consuming fire.”-Hebrews 12:29 

Despite what the marketing gurus tell you, or the mainstream media outlets try to sell you; everything that we consume, consumes us.  In America, we live in a culture of consumption.  A steady stream of stuff bombards us every minute, and infiltrates us in every way.  The cry is to buy, sell, and get gain.  Consume, discard, and repeat.  With the goal to get as much as you can with as little effort as possible.  We will consume and be consumed, the only question that remains, is by what?   

There is just something absolutely magnetizing about a roaring fire in the fireplace.  It just seems to draw you.  The drama that unfolds is better than cable television.  The flames claim each log, slowly consuming all in its wake; ultimately becoming only itself.  The success or failure of a fire depends totally on its architect.  Like many things in life, a good fire takes proper: preparation, materials, and care.  The construction and materials working together are essential in providing key ingredients that are consistently needed in order to produce a well burning fire.   So many things are built, in the same manner as a fire; families, businesses, churches, ourselves.  The fire is started small, the flame is fanned, and gradually the wood is added and consumed.  It takes consistent, diligence and maintenance.  A steady diet of material, added for the flame to consume, and transform into itself.  In our lives (both spiritual and temporal) the things we build, we build with consistency, diligence, maintenance, and persistence.  Words like convenience and comfort, while welcomed in the temporal realm ought to be met with caution in the spiritual.  You cannot take a match to a tree and expect it to catch fire.  You cannot throw a wet mass of leaves on hot coals and expect it to burn.  You cannot leave a fire for a week and expect to find it hot when you return.  We like to turn a knob and have heat to cook with, push a button to warm our homes, flip a switch and the light comes on.  We want to own it, watch it, wear it, like it, consume it, and discard it; and we want to do it all right now!  This philosophy does not stop at a church door, and the church has dutifully responded to the demand of the masses.  Youth pastors scrambling to be on the cutting edge of the next big thing.  Worship looks more like a halftime at the super bowl; sermons bare the feel of a comedy stand-up routine.  We want to write a tithe check once a month, recite a prayer, give confession, breeze in “get blessed”, and walk out.  Find the minimal amount of input for maximum results.  The concept of salvation has been marketed to the masses to be consumed, and therefore they are conditioned to believe it should be.  In this artificial comfort, the lie of devil is propagated and the people miss the joy of being consumed; instead of constantly consuming.  The pleasure that is found in growing with God and for God, is lost in the news feed or the media blitz.  God wants to consume us, not the other way around; he calls us daily to give our lives to his consuming flame so that he can engulf us and light the world. 

When the Holy Ghost comes within it starts a fire in your heart that burns for holiness.  This holiness consumes us it becomes our identity.  Day by day the “who we are”, “what we want”, “what we have”, and “who we wish to be, and be with” is committed to the fire of holiness. We are consumed, and there is only God.  It is not always comfortable or convenient, but it is good.  It is right.  To be consumed by God in this culture of consumption, is the principle calling of man and the greatest privilege while here on earth.  “Our God is a consuming fire.”