Fire Insurance: How Is Your Love for God?
Summer at our house means backyard bonfires. We love to have people over to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. Sometimes my husband and I will even go back outside after the kids go to bed, just to talk. We talk about all sorts of things, but eventually, as the fire dies down so does our conversation. I then have nothing to do but stare into the mesmerizing fire. In this trance-like state I begin to meditate on . . . fire.
With my house only a few yards away, I think about the dangers of a house fire. I find consolation in knowing that my house insurance covers fire damage. I think back to the first lecture my dad gave me about insurance. He was an insurance broker, so at age sixteen, when I was about to buy my first car, I got the “insurance talk”. I had to take out a loan in order to buy the car, so my dad explained to me the importance of insurance. He informed me that if I were to crash my car without insurance, I would be paying for a dead horse. I thought the horse analogy was odd, considering I had never even ridden a horse, but I understood. Even if my horse/car was dead, I would not only have to finish paying for it, but I would have no ability to replace it. I purchased insurance.
I remember the first time my dad encouraged me to buy into another type of insurance. I was a small child, and I told him I was afraid I was going to hell. He prayed with me, and I asked Jesus into my heart. In a sense, I purchased spiritual fire insurance. I was no longer worried about going to hell, but I did not burn with a love for God.
I went for years (decades!) missing the point of my salvation. I might not be going to hell, but I was nowhere near what Christians describe as being “on fire” for Christ. Typically, when someone uses this phrase in their testimony, it is preceded with a phrase like, “I hit rock bottom.” I am not belittling this statement, because I have been there. God will use any tragic event in our lives to draw us to him.
When a person hits rock bottom, they are more likely to look up, and it’s then that God reveals himself to them. God does not take delight in our pain, but he gives us peace in knowing that our tragedy is nothing compared to his almighty power. God graciously sparks this person’s soul with a fire that desperately wants to consume everything about God. They want to know God more intimately. They constantly talk to and about God. They become more aware (and grateful!) for how God is working in their life. And just like a real fire, this spiritual fire needs to be stoked in order to maintain its flame.
Join me this summer, as you sit around a fire, in remembering that God does not want to just give us fire insurance. Let God ignite your heart with a love for him.
“Were not our hearts burning within us while [Jesus] talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32 (NIV)
has sanctification in overdrive thanks to her three young children ages 4, 3, and 1. She and her husband of six years are working out their salvation with fear, trembling, and laughter. In her writing, Audrey preaches to herself and invites others to learn from her mistakes and be pointed to the cross. She can be found under the handle Peanut Butter Waffle Mom at AudreyGuerne.Wordpress.com.
Photograph © Jiawei Chen, used with permission
