Fire Starters

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chool children, it seems, are always selling something.  No sooner does the school year begin than students are out in droves, peddling their wares from home to home like door-to-door salesman.   The merchandise varies from fruit, to doughnuts, to cookies, to flags, to popcorn, to wrapping paper for the holidays.  I remember selling, candy, spices, and magazines to help fund various projects for the different schools I attended at home.

While most of the merchandise is designed to grab the buyer’s attention, very few of these products are created with long-term usefulness in mind.  The candy is meant to be consumed, the wrapping paper can only be used during a particular season, and knick knacks for the home soon find their way onto back shelves in closets or are boxed up in the attic until a “place” can be found to display them later.

But every once in a while a useful product comes along that is both practical and designed to make life just a little bit easier.  This small miracle occurred at my sister’s school.  Each year her school, like all the other schools in all the other counties, sold items to raise money for certain needs not addressed by the school’s allotted budget.  Instead of going door-to-door, however, the school held a bazaar where people visited and purchased items, most of them made by the students themselves.

One of the biggest hits at the bazaar was fire starters.  These were simple and useful little gadgets that made building a fire during the winter months much easier.  The students simply took a small milk carton, cut off the top, filled it with paraffin wax, and inserted a small piece of twine in the center.  When the wax cooled, it conformed to the shape of the milk carton and provided enough fuel to last until the wood in the fireplace grew into a warm, glowing blaze.  All you had to do was arrange the wood and the kindling, place the fire starter underneath, light it, and voila!  Instant fire!  As the fire starter burned and used its fuel, it ignited the wood in the grate which grew from a small, single flame into a roaring, blazing fire that gave light and warmth to everyone in the room.

Do you realize that Christians are to the world what the fire starter is to the wood and kindling in the fireplace?  Did you know that Jesus commissioned us to be spiritual pyromaniacs with the sole purpose of intentionally setting the world on fire for him?  It’s true; and we need look no further than one of the last commands Jesus gave his disciples before ascending into heaven.

Matthew 28:19-20 is generally referred to as The Great Commission because it is in this passage of scripture that Jesus instructs his followers to go out into the world and conquer it for him. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Not only did Jesus command his followers—and that includes us today—to go out and set fires; he gave them the necessary tools with which to do it.  Notice the distinct similarities between believers and those fire starters my sister’s school sold.  First, they were small compared to the task.  Second, they had a distinct shape and were filled with fuel and a wick.  Third, once they were lit, they gave of themselves totally until a roaring fire was set ablaze.  Fourth, they received their fire from another source. Fifth, had it not been for them, there would have been no fire.

It doesn’t take much to understand the comparison, does it?  The world is a big place filled with billions of people.  By ourselves we are not match for the challenge, we are very small when placed side-by-side with Christ’s command.  The scriptures tell us that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, taking on his shape, and we are to be filled with the Spirit which produces in us the means of sharing the gospel message with the world.  However, unless we give of ourselves totally and unselfishly, we are of no use to God.  The fire starter is no good without a flame and it will not achieve its purpose if it goes out before the task is completed.  But when we allow God to work through us so that we share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world, we can truly ignite a flame in those around us.  How many fires have you started lately?