Slow to catch fire

The fire was set well. Rolled newspapers surmounted with kindling wood, and a few bits of coal to get it going.

The paper caught but then fizzled. The wood didn’t even sizzle. I did the trick which often works – create a draft by stretching a newspaper across the top of the opening to the fireplace, funnelling the air underneath and acting as a blower. Yes, dangerous.

This time the newspaper I used caught fire and I had to stuff it all in on top of the wood, where it acted like a blanket.

Now I’ve spent an hour nursing this pathetic flame to life. It is finally showing some signs of having caught, but it has made me think.

Why does some wood – which is supposed to be easily lit – need so much help to catch fire? Why does it not catch despite newspaper all around it blazing away?

Why do some people – even those sitting in church – need so much help to catch fire? Why don’t they blaze into flame when they are so close to others who are on fire for God? 

Sometimes perhaps they are dampened down by the residual ash of previous experiences. Memories of spiritual highs which went bad maybe hinder their flammability. Maybe they’ve been dampened by the world’s ideas and expectations. Faith has grown cold. Hope has died. Cynicism and worldliness have killed the fire.

Maybe those around them are not hot enough. Maybe they aren’t fanning into flame the hope planted within them, the fire of the Holy Spirit. Maybe, having met with negative reactions or rejection, they’ve decided to keep the Spirit just about alive but not ‘hot’ enough to be noticed, rather than be mocked or ignored any more. 

Paul writes to Timothy, ‘fan into flame the gift of God’. The fire in my grate is beginning to catch. I’m going to fan into flame the gift God has given me – his Holy Spirit. How about you?