JDL - Direction Fifty - Keeping the Fire Burning

Direction Fifty

Keeping the Fire Burning

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. (Leviticus 6:12 (ESV))

In Leviticus our Lord lays out for the priests and His people, the children of Israel, the guidelines for making sacrifices. One important duty for the priest was to make sure the fire for burning the burnt offerings was always burning. This fire was not a fire kindled by human hands but was a fire given to the people by God. It was their everlasting flame. This fire was a way for God to communicate His presence among His people. Fire, as God, is both consuming and purifying. Our God is just and cleansing. If the fire were to die, God’s presence would be gone. This fire was to be kept burning by the priests. Every morning the priest was to put on his vestments, and then he would remove the ashes from the altar. These ashes would be disposed of outside the sanctuary. The fire would then be stoked and made ready for the current days sacrifices and offerings.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire on the heads of the apostles. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and with His power and were given extraordinary gifts for work in God’s Kingdom.

When we are brought into the Lord’s Kingdom through the waters of Holy Baptism, our Lord lights His fire in us. Through His means of grace, the Word (that is the Bible) and the Sacraments (Holy Baptism, that is as we remember our Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, as we partake of His body and blood, in, with and under the bread and wine), and as we make use of the means of confession and absolution, our Lord’s fire is stoked in our hearts.

Because our Lord comes to us through means and through His means of grace in particular, we know and understand how important it is that we make regular (daily and weekly) and diligent (reading, hearing and remembering) use of these means.

Certainly, as the Lord is the one who gave His fire to the children of Israel and was ultimately responsible for its burning, even though He allowed His priests some responsibility in its maintenance, even so in our own lives, our Lord is the one who gives us faith and allows us some responsibility in the maintenance of our own faith life. Yet, He is the one who continues to work to strengthen and keep us in faith until Christ comes again.

Here again, as always, the focus in a Jesus-directed life is always and ever on the Lord and what He is doing. We may want to be involved, and we may think we are involved, but thanks be to God that He is the one who is responsible and that He does what He says He will do. Certainly we also thank Him for allowing us to live lives of a response of faith. Thanks be to God that He allows us to carry out the ashes, to stoke the fire of faith, and to keep the fire burning, but even more, thanks be to God that when our fire is almost out, He is the one who takes over for us.

Think About
What obstacles are in your life that keep you from tending the fire of faith God put in your heart? How might you overcome these obstacles?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for kindling the fire of faith in my heart. Forgive me when I fail to make regular and diligent use of Your means of grace. Help me to always seek first, You and Your Kingdom, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.