Where There's Fire, There's Smoke
I know, I know… It’s supposed to be smoke then fire. I’m reversing the order of that old adage today. On my walk to work there was a car on fire. People were already responding to it, and nobody was in danger. I stood there for several minutes as the smoke billowed out of the front of the car. It worked fast. Soon you couldn’t see down the street at all. The smoke to fire ratio was really rather disproportionate. It wasn’t fair. Smoke beat fire.
Smoke was born out of fire and outdid it. Now, if it wasn’t for the fire, the smoke would not exist. Smoke owes everything to fire. As big as it gets, it should not forget the fire down below. But old Smokey sometimes does. You see, when the fire goes out, he still hangs around. He thinks he’s big stuff still. The Smokester disperses himself through the air trying to get bigger still. He just doesn’t realize that he is getting thinner and thinner as he dissipates. Soon you begin to see right through him. And then he’s gone.
Scripture says that there are some “having a form of godliness but denying its power”. Smoke is like that “form of godliness”. The old saying stated that wherever you find smoke, not too far from it must be fire. But that’s not true. You can have smoke without fire. Dry ice, automobile exhaust, chimney sweeps, etc. Borrowed smoke sometimes happens too. Like the smoke in the lungs of little kids in the back seat of a smokers car. I think those that are beginning to call that abuse, are right. But that’s another topic altogether. I realize that every metaphor has its shortcomings, but lets just say that when it comes to people, sometimes they are just like “clouds without rain” as Jude says.
In Nazareth one day, on a crowded street, a women reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ clothes. He then asks his disciples who touched him. We read that he felt power leave him. The Twelve reply, “You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, who touched me?” It’s an amazing scene, really. Jesus doesn’t know exactly who touched him with the intent that we find in that woman, but he wants to know. He starts looking around for this person. She is afraid. Maybe she felt like she stole from the Lord – took something without asking. I tell my kids that’s stealing. Nonetheless, she confesses. It says “she told him the whole truth.”
The truth was, she had been sick for a long time, and had spent her fortune and energy trying to get well. It never worked. Now she is near this One that can heal with a touch and in desperation she reaches out for a flap of the garment in his wake. His power was so available that he healed someone without even knowing it. It just flowed from him naturally – well, supernaturally, but effortless on his part. This is the hallmark of spiritual life: it comes without fanfare, without bluster, without the machinery of man. It’s like fire without smoke. Like the burning bush that was not consumed.
Christ Jesus is the power of God. Don’t be too concerned about puffing yourself up. Be concerned instead, about not letting the fire of that “first love” go out. Don’t smoke. It’s bad for your spiritual lungs too.
BJ
Smoke was born out of fire and outdid it. Now, if it wasn’t for the fire, the smoke would not exist. Smoke owes everything to fire. As big as it gets, it should not forget the fire down below. But old Smokey sometimes does. You see, when the fire goes out, he still hangs around. He thinks he’s big stuff still. The Smokester disperses himself through the air trying to get bigger still. He just doesn’t realize that he is getting thinner and thinner as he dissipates. Soon you begin to see right through him. And then he’s gone.
Scripture says that there are some “having a form of godliness but denying its power”. Smoke is like that “form of godliness”. The old saying stated that wherever you find smoke, not too far from it must be fire. But that’s not true. You can have smoke without fire. Dry ice, automobile exhaust, chimney sweeps, etc. Borrowed smoke sometimes happens too. Like the smoke in the lungs of little kids in the back seat of a smokers car. I think those that are beginning to call that abuse, are right. But that’s another topic altogether. I realize that every metaphor has its shortcomings, but lets just say that when it comes to people, sometimes they are just like “clouds without rain” as Jude says.
In Nazareth one day, on a crowded street, a women reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ clothes. He then asks his disciples who touched him. We read that he felt power leave him. The Twelve reply, “You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, who touched me?” It’s an amazing scene, really. Jesus doesn’t know exactly who touched him with the intent that we find in that woman, but he wants to know. He starts looking around for this person. She is afraid. Maybe she felt like she stole from the Lord – took something without asking. I tell my kids that’s stealing. Nonetheless, she confesses. It says “she told him the whole truth.”
The truth was, she had been sick for a long time, and had spent her fortune and energy trying to get well. It never worked. Now she is near this One that can heal with a touch and in desperation she reaches out for a flap of the garment in his wake. His power was so available that he healed someone without even knowing it. It just flowed from him naturally – well, supernaturally, but effortless on his part. This is the hallmark of spiritual life: it comes without fanfare, without bluster, without the machinery of man. It’s like fire without smoke. Like the burning bush that was not consumed.
Christ Jesus is the power of God. Don’t be too concerned about puffing yourself up. Be concerned instead, about not letting the fire of that “first love” go out. Don’t smoke. It’s bad for your spiritual lungs too.
BJ
posted by BJ at 4:52 p.m.
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