Our God Is A Consuming Fire

A couple Sundays ago during communion, I realized a parallel that I had not seen before. During communion, we remember Christ's death on the cross and His blood shed for our sins and His body broken for us. All of this was done out of His extravagant love for us, who became the church. Also known as the Bride of Christ.

As I thought about us being the Bride of Christ (and how the Bible describes a wife), this verse struck me: 

The wife does not have authority over her own body.... 1 Corinthians 7:4

Now transfer that over to us as the bride of Christ.... Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

I've been thinking about/studying/listening lately about how much Christ owns us, or should own us, I should say. He is the only one worthy of our focus. It is one of those topics that as a Christian, you know; Christ gave His all for us, we owe Him a debt we can never repay, i.e. He wants our life. Yet, that is not the way we live.

I know for me, it was something I always took for granted. I know Christ wants all of me, but you know, that is really not doable. I mean, really, all of me?! My passions, my fears, my hurts, my excitements, my dreads, my plans, my love; my life. He wants to own and direct and be right there with everything. He will not be content with me giving Him part of my life, He wants to fully consume me.

For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24

I've been realizing lately how many times I ask God to share the #1 spot in my life with other things; it is not exclusively His as it should be. But you know, He is not content to be part of our life, He wants to be our life.

Kyle Idleman in Not A Fan shares: 

When you accept the invitation of Jesus to follow him, you are not just saying that He is the top priority in your life; you are making Him the only priority in your life. He desperately wants you, but He won't share you. He will settle for nothing less than your undivided attention and complete commitment.

Please understand: Jesus loves you so much. He died to have a relationship with you. He will not share your heart with anyone. He will settle for nothing less than your complete devotion and heart-felt affection. He made no compromises when He came and gave His life up for you, and He takes no compromises now as He asks you to do the same.  

The reason Jesus is so adamant about followers surrendering everything is because the reality is this: the one thing we are most reluctant to give up is the one thing that has the most potential to become a substitute for Him. Really what we're talking about here is idolatry. When we are to be following Jesus, who is ahead of us, but find ourselves looking behind us, we are revealing that we are substituting something or someone for Him. 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:4-5 

  Francis Chan in Crazy Love shares about the above passage: 

In Moses' time, the heart was understood to be the seat of a person's emotions, the very center of his being, the place where decisions are made. The soul was considered the basis for a person's traits and qualities, or his personality. Strength refers to physical, mental, and spiritual strength. 

So within the command to love God with "all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength," every fiber of humanity is addressed. Our goal as people who follow Christ should be no less than becoming people who are madly in love with God. 

A person who is obsessed [with God] is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being.

We are called to live a life characterized by a passionate, unashamed love for God. I find it surprising, though, sometimes; it makes me giddy and I smile silly, as I am pursued. He is constantly wooing me, and as He does, I find myself falling more and more ”for Him” (as, I suppose, it would be like in a human betrothal). He doesn't just say He loves me, but He constantly shows me His love. I slowly absorb the thought that someone really could love me that much as He reveals more of Himself to me, and my love deepens. I allow Him into parts of my life that have remained what I thought of as "hidden"*, and I slowly begin to comprehend His love; His extremely extravagant, passionate love for me. 

I used to view loving God as sort of a one-way road, I suppose. I knew God loved me, but I never viewed it as a type of love you could actually feel, like the love from another human being. How wrong I was! I have never known a more pure, passionate, all-consuming love. One that makes me want to serve Him and give Him my all.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Hebrews 12:1

...Because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

"We are not to be living specimens of men, well-preserved, but living sacrifices whose lot it is to be consumed."  -Charles Spurgeon

*Which, of course, nothing is hidden from God, Hebrews 4:13, but the actually truly letting go of something and purposefully telling Him and actually sharing your heart with Him is different than Him knowing "because He's God”.