We are a people, and especially a generation, that can't hold onto anything for too long. We either get bored with it or it loses is "sparkle" to us so we have to go in search of the next "big thing". Somewhere along the last few generations we have lost the ability to stay driven and passionate for things. I am not saying everyone is this way, but I am saying if you look around it is a mindset that society has adopted. We are marketed to more in this day and age than ever before, and even in that they are having to constantly find new ways to market to us because something that worked and grabbed out attention a few years ago just doesn't work today. Fast food chains have realized this and have to keep adding new things to their menu to bring you back, or they are re-marketing things to try to "wow us" with them again. Gadgets and technology are even worse because they have to keep up with a generation that expects something bigger, better and faster every 6 months or so. And the beast that they helped create is the same beast that is hurting them now. If they can't create something new to again "wow us" every 6 months then we will just walk away from that company and go to someone else who does have the latest and greatest. So the same people who made us feel like we HAD TO have the newest and best thing, is now having to constantly come up with the newest and best thing just to stay in business. And even though change can be good....the constant "need" for change can be bad.
I have a dear friend who recently found Christ. And I personally have never seen someone get so on fire for Christ so fast. God has imparted something into this person that allowed them to just skip what takes some Christians years to get to. It is amazing to see and such a blessing. It has challenged me to get even closer to God because I see the hunger in them. However, since she found Jesus some people have told her that this "honeymoon stage" doesn't last forever. WHAT!!?? What a horrible thing to tell a new believer. This person has just been rescued and redeemed from a life that was leading them to hell...and now they have secured a spot with Jesus in heaven forever. That is worth getting super hyped up about! That is worth being ON FIRE!! And that is not a fire that ever has to go out or burn less. I immediately told her DO NOT believe that lie. The fire that is burning so strong in your right now never has to burn any less hot than it is right now. In fact, the closer you get to God and the longer you walk with Him, the hotter this fire should burn. But you have to keep feeding that fire! You have to keep stoking those coals! And you have to protect the flame from water being doused on in from the world around you.
Jesus is not the "next big thing". He is not something we should get excited about for a little bit and then become bored with. What He did for us is not something that we should have to keep coming up with new ways to "market it" so we can keep people interested in it. The message of the gospel has survived for thousands of years because Godly men and woman have stayed on fire for Christ and made sure the truth and the good news has been passed from one generation to another. And now that torch is in our hands. We have to burn HOT for Jesus now. We have to stay passionate about who He is, what He did and how He is THE answer for a lost and dying world. If that fire burns down it is not because Jesus is any less than He has ever been, it is because we are not keeping our fire burning hot for Him. If you take a small piece of a fire, like a small burning stick, and remove it from the rest of the fire, it will burn out. It has to stay IN the fire to stay ON fire and to keep burning. You have to stay constantly connect to Him to keep burning too. And I can tell you from experience that getting filled up, and then pouring back out into others is one huge way of doing this. Allow God to fill you up, then go out and pour that into others. Get connected to Him and then go help others get connected. Worshiping Him is what we were made to do. We were designed to have and fulfill a purpose. Seek your God given purpose and go do it! Keep the fire burning hot for Him and do not let anyone or anything steal that from you!
God, I thank You that you lit a new fire in me almost 2 years ago. I thank You that it is still burning strong and that not one storm, nor change in circumstance that has come my way has put the flame out because YOU placed it there. Help Your people seek to burn hotter for You today than ever before and shut down the lies that just going to church and living an ok life is acceptable. Holy Spirit create a longing and a desire in us to love more, reach more, serve more and burn more brightly than ever before! In Jesus name, Amen
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