Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Fire this time Sunday, December 17, 2000 Luke 3:16-17 John the Baptist says, "One more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." "Away in the manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus, lay down his sweet head, The stars in the sky look down where he lay, The little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay." We sang the lullaby this morning in church, on the coldest day of the year. Outside the wind was hurling icicles. Tonight a local church scheduled a live nativity for several hours. What a temptation it would be to start a small fire in the barn! Although taxi drivers and other historical revisionists may deny it, the Chicago fire started with just such a small fire in a barn. One of the memorable moments of my childhood was watching a night fire destroy the barn on a farm near where I lived. Hay and straw catch so quickly! On this very cold evening in December I'm drawn in to the pictures of fire and water drawn by John the Baptist. John's water cleans the skin, but Jesus' fire purifies the soul. And Jesus' fire is not gentle. It destroys everything evil. Nothing is left but what God made and what God preserves. This baby in the manger, how can he spark such a conflagration? I look into his eyes and see Goodness, but it is not gentle. It is determined and strong and absolutely certain of itself. Evil cannot stand its gaze. In his Champaign News-Gazette column on Friday, December 15 my friend Don Follis points out that the apostle John tells of Jesus' birth not in his book about Jesus' life but in Revelation 12. John writes of the spiritual warfare that accompanies Jesus' birth. The little bitty baby born in Bethlehem was the most serious threat Satan had encountered. He wanted to kill the baby; he was determined to kill the baby. A simple fire in the barn would have been all he needed. So much battle going on below the quiet surface of the live nativity. I am pacified by the lullaby, but I can also just hear the trumpets sounding the warcry of Gabriel and his angels. The fire is on the horizon. Fire in the belly, not in the barn. The fire that purifies my soul. God, you have rescued me from the power of death. Surround me with your angels in the presence of my enemy, Lord, and shine your brightness all around me. For the darkness is as light to you. "; Add      Edit    Delete