The Ties that Bind: A Heritage of Fire

My father has always been the one interested in our family's heritage.  More than once in my childhood, I would walk past the dining room to find half the table littered with multi-branched charts taped together, tea-stained pictures of some distant stoic-faced relative, and stacks of photocopies.  Some were of pages in library books, detailed letters from one relative to another, or accounting ledgers.

Most all the interesting pieces were filled with cramped, painfully-consistent cursive handwriting, almost illegible and just like my Great Grandma Maggie's. 

All of it was my heritage.

Biologically, I can trace my lineage across the oceans to a time before America's formation as a country.

But what about my lineage as a Christian?  That's much harder.

Granted, my own salvation is a direct result of my parent's training me up in the Lord as is their salvation.  From there, though, moving backwards is a bit more difficult, especially since faith isn't always passed down biologically.  Often, one's faith is a direct result of someone of a different bloodline sharing the gospel.

While I can't fill in the gaps in-between, I do believe Scripture provides Gentile Christians like myself with the starting point, the "Adam and Eve," if you will, of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the consuming fire that burns within each Christian.

Consider both the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament.

When God first deigned to dwell below with His people in the desert, He gave Moses plans to build the tabernacle.  Then, when this temporary dwelling place was completed, He filled the tabernacle with His presence in two ways: by cloud and fire: "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle...the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel" (Ex. 40:34, 38).

The fire from heaven was not merely a symbol.  It was the only fire permitted to light the lamp stand of God's presence within the Holy place as well as to light the altars of sacrifice wherein people could gain atonement for their sin.  Any other fire on the altars would be considered "strange fire" presented to the Lord, an act punishable by death (Lev. 10:1-2).  

When the priesthood of Aaron first offered burnt offerings to the Lord at the newly completed tabernacle, God sent the needed fire from heaven: "Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces" (Lev. 9:24).  Once God lit the fire, making a way for man to find atonement, it was supposed to be permanent: "Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out"(Lev. 6:13).

Later, when King Solomon built a permanent dwelling for God, His presence came down in the same manner: "Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.  The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house" (2 Chron. 7:1-2).

But then, Israel fell into sin.  The fire on the altar was allowed to go out, the temple was ransacked, and God's people were carted away in the chains of slavery.  When the lamp of God's presence flickered its last, there was no longer any potential for atonement for one's sin.

That's when the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to be God with Us, the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all.

When Christ left, He left His followers with God's comforting presence in the form of the Holy Spirit to light the temple lamp of as many who would come to Him.  This is why Jesus told His followers: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house" (Matt. 5:14-15).  This is why Paul told Christians, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19).  

When God's Presence came down to fill His earthly temples one last time with the Holy Spirit, it was, again, with fire: "And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:3-4).

Fire filled the temple of God for the third time in recorded Scripture, only this time, the temple was made of flesh and blood.  This time, the lamp lighted with God's presence was you and me.

Just imagine--when the Holy Spirit fell in tongues of fire on those first Christians, he was lighting the first lamps that would stay lit until today.

If you are a Christian, your heritage goes all the way back to that upper room when the Holy Spirit fell on the very first believers in Christ, lighting the lampstand of the new temples of flesh. 

It is an awesome thought.

It's also an awesome responsibility.

Just as the priesthood of Aaron wasn't supposed to let God's fire go out, we Christians today are also charged with keeping our lamps trimmed and mounted high on a stand for all the world to see God's Presence within our temple.

To God be the glory!

Are You Content to Be "Just" a Laborer?

"So, when are you going to write a book?  You should, you know. You have a gift..."

Such compliments once would make my posture straighten slightly, swell my head with pride. Imagine--little me, a book author.  But after several years of writing in the public forum, those compliments are no longer as flattering, even though most intend them to be.

Instead, the words speak criticism. It's like they are saying, "Why are you wasting your time writing on the Internet when you could write something worthwhile? And 'worthwhile' means you get paid, that your words are bound between two hard covers, stitched and held together with glue."

Even one of my college students' parents criticized me for using my blog as an example to freshmen of writing as practice.  As she complained to my employer, "blogs are so immature."

Isn't being published what writers are supposed to do? What writers are supposed to aim for?  Maybe...four bloggers I've followed for several years are now successfully published; a fifth has a book contract and is striving toward that goal. I'm thrilled for each of them.  Their impact on my life has been tremendous, and I see God's fingerprints on their journeys.

Here I am, still virtually unknown, still writing articles for free each week.  Want to know a secret? Honestly? I don't feel called to write a book. This--blogging.....this is enough. It is the service God has asked of me, and I continue to give it willingly and with an open heart.  It is enough.

This "make it big" mentality is consuming, though, and impacts our service to God.  Society teaches it's not good enough to be just a teacher, just a secretary, just a truck driver.  Instead, we must always strive to work up the ladder to be in administration with a better title, better benefits, better office with a better view. There's more, always more to achieve--more power, more prestige, more leadership opportunities until we're at the top and subject to no one but ourselves.

Please understand--goals are good.  Goals are God-given and we would be remiss if we settled for less when God has called us to more. If God calls you to lead, then you lead. Period. 

But many times, God wants laborers who are willing to not have their name stamped on everything.  And he wants many of us to be content to be just laborers, not leaders..

Consider Bezalel, a " skilled Judahite artisan,"* the only blue collar worker in the Old Testament who was filled with the Spirit of God.  All the others God indwelt were leaders, prophets, and kings.

Then, along came Bezalel, a laborer without the name recognition or authority of a leader, without the holy aura of a prophet.  This man likely had large, deeply-calloused hands, skin well-tanned, scarred, and wrinkled from too much time spent working with wood, stone, and metal. He probably didn't have great book knowledge, likely couldn't quite whole books of the Torah.

Yet, God told Moses, "See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship" (Ex. 31:1-5).

God indwelt Bezalel with a purpose: to give him the skills needed to create the tabernacle.  Only God, Himself, could achieve the level of perfection needed to create this dwelling place for Himself on earth.

Amazingly, God chose to fulfill His purpose through a man--but not just any man.  Bezalel must have been one who was a willing vessel, one who would submit to the authority of the Spirit within, who knew he was incapable of the job by himself and, as such, would rely on God's capability rather than his own.

I find it no accident that Bezalel's name means "in the shadow (i.e. protection) of God"*  Imagine living in God's shadow.  To do so means when someone looks at you, he sees God, not you. 

That's what happened here--when God worked through Bezalel, when divine ability reached down to use human hands, all Israel looked at the finished product of the tabernacle and saw God, not Bezalel.  They praised God for the tabernacle's completion, not Bezalel.

This is what it means to be a laborer for God--being willing to work in God's shadow, under His authority.

In the New Testament, Paul told us, "For we are God’s fellow workers" (1 Cor. 3:9).  He didn't say "we might be God's fellow workers" or "we probably will be God's fellow workers."  No.  He said, "we are."  Yet, Jesus said of these fellow workers, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few" (Matt. 9:37).

I would argue the workers are few because we don't want to be blue-collar laborers, especially laborers who never (or rarely) receive recognition.  

• We don't want to fold flyers or sweat (literally) putting Bible tracts on doors in neighborhoods where no one is at home.  
• We don't want to give up our close-knit Sunday School classes and commit to work in the  preschool wing where the majority of church members never come. 
• We don't want to pray diligently each day in the secrecy of our prayer closets where no one hears us. 
• We don't want to help clean up back in the kitchen after a fellowship while everyone else is out there enjoying each other's company.

As a general rule, most people gravitate towards the big, obvious areas of service where everyone can see what they do for Christ, where their name is stamped (somehow) on the work.

Yet, for God to be able to use us, we must be content to work in God's shadow where no one sees us but rather merely sees the work of the Spirit within us. 

God's looking for some content blue-collar laborers like you and me.  It's time we bend the knee and say "yes" to God empowering us beyond our capabilities, to say "yes" to those areas of service no one may ever know we have done in His name.



*BlueLetterBible.com