"For Our God is a Consuming Fire..."

I've been so hungry for God's Word lately! How about you? This morning, I read a devotional from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening and it was exactly what I needed to be reminded of today! And, as often happens, images of many things danced around in my head until, WOW, I couldn't contain it any longer. Immediately the song, Children of the Burning Heart by Stephen Curtis Chapman (words below) popped into my head and prompted me to find the lyrics. I love the chorus!

"So come on let’
Throw back our heads and run with a passion
Through the fields of forgiveness and grace
We carried the eternal flame
With an undying hope and a blazing conviction
Of a truth that would never fade
We were glowing in the dark
Children of a burning heart"

I so have this picture of my arms flung wide, head thrown back as I shout, giggle and run with wild abandon through a waist-deep meadow of wheat, sea grass or (for some reason) pussy-willows toward my Lord Jesus. The image I have is not unlike the one you see when a young child will do that eager, running jump into his beloved parent's arms.

Have you seen the movie, The Gladiator? There is this dream sequence which is repeated several times throughout the movie. The main actor is separated from his family and dreams of tentatively walking in a wheat field towards his hillside villa, eagerly waiting, loving wife and young son. He is hesitant and unsure, it seems to me, of where exactly he is (like he cannot really believe he is back home) and his hands are out just enough to cup the heads of wheat as he walks toward his destination. He has a longing and desire to be with his family and gone from the waking world of war, bloodshed and death. However, his hope is not sure and so he is forever trying to reach his goal (peace, to be with his family) and always awakening to a dark reality of a life without hope.

Are you sure of your hope in Christ Jesus? Or, have you become so enmeshed in this present world that you are unsure and tentative in your relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you run this race, called the Christian life, with wild abandon looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2)? Or, like Peter, have you taken your eyes off the precious Savior and focused on everything else around you, but Him (Matthew 14:25-32)?

Luke 24:30-32
When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"

Romans 12:11
… not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Hebrews 10:19-25
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.

The above passages are what the following song by Stephen Curtis Chapman is based upon.

Children Of The Burning Heart
We were the dreamers, the boys on the wild frontier
The new believers, with nothing in the world to fear
We had discovered the treasure of the love and the grace of God
And it burned like a fire in our hearts and we would

Throw back our heads and run with a passion
Through the fields of forgiveness and grace
We carried the eternal flame
With an undying hope and a blazing conviction
Of a truth that would never fade
We were glowing in the dark
Children of a burning heart

And now for the dreamers, and those who have dared to believe
The flames call us deeper into the great mystery
For as we draw near to the Father, we are lost in His one desire
To be wholly consumed by His fire, so let us

Throw back our heads and run with a passion
Through the fields of forgiveness and grace
We carried the eternal flame
With an undying hope and a blazing conviction
Of a truth that would never fade
We were glowing in the dark
Children of a burning heart

So come on let’
Throw back our heads and run with a passion
Through the fields of forgiveness and grace
We carried the eternal flame
With an undying hope and a blazing conviction
Of a truth that would never fade
We were glowing in the dark
Children of a burning heart

written by Steven Curtis Chapman
c 1996 Sparrow Song/Peach Hill Songs

Are you glowing in the dark?