wildfire

I live in southern California, and I’m guessing most of you reading this are aware that California is kind of on fire right now. As I am writing this article there are currently 14 active Wildfires burning in this state, one of them happens to be pretty darn close to me. These fires are unquestionably devastating, but they have gotten me thinking a lot these days.

 

Hebrews 12:29

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

 

This verse quickly came to mind. There are definitely multiple ways of interpreting this verse, however I want to focus on God’s love. His love is a consuming fire, able to overcome every bone, every organ, and all of the blood in our bodies. As I looked upon the nearby fire I couldn’t help but notice its recklessness. It was pressing through every tree, going over hills and down into valleys, and taking down homes, all in effort to keep burning more, and more. It was never satisfied with its progress, it wanted more, and more. You see, this is how God loves us. He will take down anything in our path to be nearer to us, he will go with us on the mountain tops and through the darkest valleys, and he will never be satisfied in chasing after us, because he wants to love us more and more everyday. ( Cue Reckless Love by Cory Asbury right!?) His pursuit to us is constant and stretches on through eternity.

 

Understanding and believing this about God’s love is so important, however I think it is just the first step. There is something else this verse wants us to get; we must be a fire too. We must love without satisfaction and lift the name of Jesus across every corner of the Earth.

 

Matthew 28:19

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

 

Sounds pretty familiar right? This is our united purpose friends, this is why we are all here. We all have unique ministries and paths, but this is what we were ALL put on this broken planet to do. We are called to make disciples of all nations. So how can we do this? Love like God. Love like a wildfire. Be persistent and consistent, produce light for all to see, be present on the mountaintops and the valleys, ignite your surroundings, and do not be shaken.

 

This is such a beautiful image painted in scripture, but if I’m honest it scares me to death. I feel like this is what I want my faith to look like, but I’ll mess up to many times. I feel like I couldn’t do this forever, I’d get too burnt out. While these are natural hesitations to have, I’m really not seeing the big picture.

 

Big picture: Our God is so good and so big.

 

None of us can do this perfectly, that is why He gives us grace and endurance. And most importantly, if we want to love like a wildfire we have to first let God love us like a consuming fire. Because, the more we let God overcome us with love, the more love we can bring to those around us. If we let ourselves be loved by God, we can be a bigger and brighter fire. Remember, He is the source. He is the light that ignites the fire, not us.

 

So, let’s be united in our purpose to bring his name to every corner of the Earth. Let’s love recklessly, burn brightly, and pursue unshakably because God does the same for us. Let’s be a wildfire.