Are You a Christmas Tree Christian?
So, tonight we burned some Christmas trees during youth. Not to state the obvious, but teenagers are all pyros. They are willing to burn anything they can, in any way they can, just to see what it does.
We talked about Matthew 5, you know, where it talks about how WE are the light of the world. I questioned – what kind of light are you? Are you like a blazing, burning fire or are you a pretty, little Christmas tree? Let’s see.
Christmas trees are sweet. They light up pretty, shine when you want them to, turn off when you’re tired of them, sparkle and glitter and then they’re put away for a year (or burned, if you’re a pyro like us).
Fires are dangerous. They’re wild and unpredictable, burning and shining like nothing else. They aren’t easily contained, you can’t toss a blanket over a fire to hide it, and they bring warmth and sometimes even burn.
See, I want to be a fire Christian. I want to follow Christ wildly, with His light shining out of me so bright that there’s no way I could hide it even if I tried. I want to bring warmth to cold places, light to dark shadows, and even burn if necessary. You all who know me know that I don’t think any Christians were made to sparkle and look pretty, turning their lights on when it’s convenient and putting the light away for another time.
So which one are you? Don’t really answer that – we’re all Christmas trees at least sometimes. But shouldn’t we all aim to burn with intensity?
It is funny you should mention this as last sundays’s sermon at my church was being Baptized with the holy spirit and with FIRE! As Christ is a Consuming Fire, We will be consume by God’s Glory and Presence and all that distracts us from him or takes away our attention from him will be purged as dross is purged from shiny metal or jewels or gold and we shall come forth shining as pure gold as God is jealous over us and wants to make us his alone….