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The Fire That Should Make Us Ask Questions

“Wow!  So sorry to hear about your friend.  It is sobering when someone we actually know dies before what seems to be their time...”  



Words I stumbled on today in my emails from a decade ago.  What struck me is that I wrote them just three short weeks before my Makiah died suddenly.  I had no way of knowing as I penned those words that in just 21 days I would wake up to her last day.  I could never have imagined it.  


And now.  Now I look around at the seeming chaos of 2020.  The year where the only thing certain seems to be uncertainty.  And reading those words and the eery heaviness with which they sit on the page begs me to ask the question.  What are we living for?  Not what is my purpose.... that’s a different question.... but what purpose am I actually LIVING my daily life for?  Am I living for more me time, for a few more moments with social media, or maybe for that elusive next vacation?  Is my aim to check off all the boxes for today, to be a great _____ (fill in the blank), or to go to bed with the feeing that I nailed it today?  None of those things are bad, and I certainly enjoy them all as well as the next person.  But am I living for those things?


The answer is hard.  And we can hardly answer it for anyone besides ourselves.  I read this morning in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 that 


12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.



When is it time to think about these things?  When is it time to ask if we are living in light of eternity?  Not just the question of heaven, but are we building something that will last or are we building something that will be burnt up?  This verse is clear about one thing-  like it or not, we are all building something.


The blessing of 2020 IS the shaking.  The uncertainty itself can be the very thing that shakes the sleepy right out of our eyes and causes us to SEE.  To Focus.  To awaken us from our sleepy vision and to bring the blurry into a crisp sharpness.  


Oh God, wake us up from the lulling idleness of our comfortable lives! Wake us up from building things that will not last into eternity.  Give us eyes to see that “for such a time as this moment” that awaits each of us!  When the enemy is using all he has to pull us apart,  draw your people  close to each other in unity of heart and mind and spirit as we pray masked or unmasked, in the church or in our living rooms.  Let our eyes be laser focused on the heart of God.  Let us prostrate ourselves before you with our ears to the ground so we can hear the sound of what is coming- the sound of the armies of the Lord surrounding your people and coming to carry out your will and answer the prayers of your people!  Lord, refocus our hearts and let this year and all its uncertainty not be wasted!




And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots(A) of fire all around Elisha.  2 Kings 6:17


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