Firewood

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

Have you ever built a fire?

Maybe a campfire or bonfire or a fire in your fireplace. What did you start with? Probably some kindling - some newspaper or small, dry sticks. Then above them you put some bigger pieces of wood. If you were successful, the after those got burning, you probably added some big logs. Then you had a fire which put off a reasonable amount of heat and wasn't at risk of going out easily.

But why start with the small stuff? Why not light the big log if it is going to last longest and put off the most heat? Well, if you've ever tried to light a log, you probably know why - it doesn't work! It's very difficult to get a log to ignite with a match or lighter. You can also surmise that fires aren't strictly made of kindling because kindling doesn't put off lots of heat and it burns out quickly.

In our spiritual lives, we're like wood which carries the fire of Jesus. When we first become Christians, we are like kindling - at that decision point, we probably caught pretty easily once we decided to say yes to Jesus, but we didn't have much thickness to our relationship with God. We won't last very long as kindling.

Have you seen new Christians who are like this? Maybe you were one, too. You burned bright for a short time, but that was it. It can be easy to get consumed with trying to set others on fire that we burn out.

Instead, we need to become logs. Logs are spiritually mature Christians. They have worked and allowed God to work to deepen their relationship and strengthen their faith. They now carry a warm sustainable flame of Jesus and have the ability to set other kindling on fire, or ever to relight other logs.

This is what Paul talks about (in different terms) in the verse above. He's chastising the members at the church in Corinth because they are still acting according to worldly ways and aren't mature enough Christians for "solid food". They haven't grown in their faith.

I challenge you not to be like these folks, like kindling, but to be intentional about growing in the Lord . . . to be like firewood logs set ablaze.

*Father God, thank you that you put a flame in us. You set us on fire for you and your kingdom! Please forgive us for staying kindling too long, for expecting others to feed us spiritual milk and not solid food. Plant in us new desires to grow in you. Teach us to persevere in seeking after you, even when we aren't feeling like we want to.

Let us not lose sight of Heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Lincoln W. – Blessings Daily Devotionals
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