27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched? (Proverbs 6:27-28)
For too long I have held a forest fire near my chest. Wanting my own way, regardless of the harm it caused, I stubbornly think I know best. Yet where my ego ends is the exact point of cleansing grace. We often carry such things while overestimating our talent for sin management. Perhaps the most effective tactic from our enemy is how he convinces us with a spirit of rugged individualism.
We can either extinguish the fire we hold – these internal desires and perceptions that blind us – or we can let them destroy us. Both are gifts of grace. The best periods of growth in my life have been when my secret sin was made public. Christ is not above humiliation for the sake of growth. Embarrassment has a way of making you turn from the things you love. Whether we can see it or not, we are bound by our desires. Christ so desperately wants us to be free from this and to redeem our desires for something better. However, the more steeped we are in the fleeting things of this world, the more our desires remain the same. Shifting from want to want, we never find peace. It is the grace of a ridiculous God that changes us, bringing in a desire stronger than death.
So what do we need to put down? In my life, I have held on to harmful relationships which have seared the health and vitality of my calling. Where self-deception remains, we will never have freedom. Someone once told me that we can either willfully hand over the things we cling to in this world to our Master, or He can break our fingers. Either way, His will shall be done. Redemption works better on a willing participant.
And so we search for humility at all costs. Knowing that none of us are above setting our lives ablaze. May we take sin seriously even in humiliation.
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Break my fingers if you must.
Matt simon blog 