Relighting the Fire

The prophet Jeremiah had reached the point in his life that many of have reached, or will reach at some point, deciding that he would cease from preaching the Word of the Lord (Jer. 20:9). Jeremiah, like many of us, reached the point of giving up because the fire that he once had for living the life approved by God was now gone out and at best was an ember, or smoldering coal that was ready to go out. Fortunately for the children of Israel, Jeremiah’s thinking of giving up quickly ceased because of the fire he had in his bones. “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Maybe you are wondering what this passage has to do with you since you do not preach, you are not a prophet, or maybe you are not thinking about giving up on your service to Christ at this time, but let me ask you, has there ever been a time when you did not think you could continue in your daily service to Christ and His church? Have you ever felt at one time you had a fire for Christ and His church but now you are barely a smoldering ember? If I had to guess, I would say there is not one person that has not had a moment of denial or weakness in their lives. We are to exhort one another (Heb. 10:25), building each other up, encouraging each other to serve to the best of our abilities, we are to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4) because of the opportunity we have to be a part of the body of Christ, simply put we are to be “red hot” in our service to Christ, but sometimes we are not.

Sadly, sometimes the cares of this world distract us from what really matters. Sometimes the adversary, the devil (1 Peter 5:8) rears his ugly head into our lives, deceives us, and takes us away from the fellowship we have with God (John 10:10). Sometimes we let the lives of erring brothers and sisters in Christ extinguish the fire we have for Christ because of their lack of concern for their own souls. In one way or another, things happen that cause us to lose our fire that is needed to serve Christ.

Luckily, there is a solution! What did Jeremiah do when he was at the point of giving up? He had his fire relit by the Word of God. Jeremiah had the Word of God “in mine heart” causing him not to do anything but be faithful. When the Word is in our “heart” (mind) and we meditate on it day and night, it will be like a “burning fire” in our bones that helps us to be faithful to Christ.