Wednesday, May 02, 2007

It's God who sends the fire.

One of my favorite passages of the Bible is the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel. He's like the Rambo of the OT. He stands up to the pagans and proves that God is real, he brings down rain after a 3+ year drought, and then outruns the king's horse-drawn chariot back to town. This story impacts me every time I read it. But today, it struck me in a new way. Elijah's actions would have had no impact had it not been for the God who sends the fire. I am reminded that, in spite of my best efforts at relevance and impact, it is God who moves and impacts. God sends the fire, and not at my command, but in His time. When I get frustrated at God's lack of moving in the lives of the people I'm trying to impact, maybe I should be asking a different question. Maybe it's not because I wasn't relevant enough. Maybe it's not because my desire wasn't great enough. Maybe I just forgot that it doesn't depend on me at all. It depends completely on the God who sends the fire. I'm at Origins this week (a conference at Mosaic Los Angeles), and we are unpacking their core values. One of their values is Relevance to culture is not optional, which I believe with all my heart. I believe that an irrelevant presentation of the Gospel is sin. But, the greater sin is to think it depends on me and my relevance. God sends the fire, and my relevance is how I step aside for God to pour it down on the offering (me). I'm going to stop asking God to make me more relevant, and start seeking His Fire. That's the real point to the story of Elijah. And that should be the point of my life.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is so lost in our Christian culture today. I truly believe that! Here is something else that rocks my world; Hebrews 6:3 says that we all move to spiritual maturity if God permits us too. That blows my world because it means the most effective thing I can do as a believer or as a minister is to pray for the fire. Great word. I can't wait to see you at Super Summer. Let's try to eat together and talk.

sturg