It Only Takes a Spark
“It only takes a spark,”
The smoke is relentless and irritating. Forest fires with an insatiable appetite are consuming our landscape, acres at a time. Although it customarily happens each year in the West and especially California, it’s far from a welcomed tradition.
“To get a fire going,”
Forest and range fires normally start from a single source, a single spark. Yet the combination of time and fuel can spawn an inferno of mass destruction transforming everything in its path. Its devastation is dishonoring and indiscriminate. Eventually rebirth does occur: plants, people and animals are re-established, but it’s not the same.
“And soon all those around,”
All of the recent fires have caused me to think about a different sort of conflagration. The Bible speaks of God as a consuming fire, a righteous fire that purifies and transforms (Hebrews 12:29). That is His Job, but He has given us a job as well. Apart from its destructive qualities, fire also provides light and warmth when functioning as it was designed. Jesus declares that we (His disciples) are the light of the world…and to let our light shine before others (Matthew 5:14-16). This is a different kind of fire.
“Will warm up to its glowing,”
Our responsibility, our privilege is to spread this kind of fire, let it grow and never let it go out.
“That’s how it is with God’s Love
Once you’ve experienced it, you spread His Love to everyone
You want to pass it on, pass it on…pass it on.”
If the words to this song sound vaguely familiar, you likely learned it at youth camp. Although composed and made popular in the late 60’s (that’s the 1960’s) the lyrics are still relevant today.
What spark has God’s Spirit lit in you? Or trying to light in you?
What is He compelling you to do? How can you let your light shine before other people? This could be a smile, an encouraging word, an affirming word, an invitation, an uplifting verse, a hug, a handshake, your attention, a coffee, a meal, your time, a prayer, a conversation, a song, a shout, an a-men, your resources, a clap of the hands, a strum of the instrument, an uplifted hand, the clang of the cymbal, a stand for righteousness, a story, your story?
We can see what God is doing at Covenant Grove. We hear many testimonies of lives being transformed. We feel the sparks and embers burning inside us. What happens next? I’m really not sure, but if we each do what sparks are supposed to do, it will be one holy fire!
“It only takes a spark…”