You can become all flame
“Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.” — Leviticus 6:13
‘If you will, you can become all flame.’ — Abba Joseph, Sayings of the Desert Fathers
At the moment, I’m studying theology part time—and recently, I wrote an essay on the desert fathers and mothers.
If you haven’t heard of them before, well, you’re in for a treat.
As a bit of context, they were ordinary Christians who—after seeing the Church become increasingly distracted from the gospel as it became more institutionalised under the Roman Empire—fled to the deserts in the Near East, so that they might become like Jesus and enter fully into His Kingdom.
Some of their stories are pretty wild—but there’s one that has stuck with me ever since I first came across it.
Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?' Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'
Wow.
If you will, you can become all flame.
That’s what I want more than anything: to become all flame for God.
Around a thousand years before the desert fathers and mothers were around, the Israelites were travelling through the same desert on their way to the Promised Land.
God gave them instructions so that they could live safely in His presence while He personally led them through the wilderness—and one of them was to keep the fire on the altar burning in the Tabernacle at all times.
Leviticus 9 tells us how this fire started, when it blazed forth from God’s presence and consumed the first burnt offering on the altar. After that, the Israelite priests would have kept this fire burning day and night for 40 years.
If you believe in Jesus, He has lit a fire in you by His Spirit. Only He can start the fire.
But, empowered by His grace, it’s our responsibility to keep it burning.
To fuel it through spending time with God in His Word, prayer and worship.
To grow it by surrendering ourselves to Him every day.
To build it by committing ourselves to a loving community of believers.
To let others see its light by showing them Jesus in everything we say and do.
I know that when I don’t do these things—when I settle by doing the bare minimum in following Jesus—I feel the flame within me diminishing.
Whenever that happens, I always go back to Romans 12, where Paul urges us to ‘…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord…’ (Romans 12:1), and to ’never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord’ (Romans 12:11).
I don’t want to settle for a distracted, disinterested faith. I don’t want to let the fire of my faith flicker into embers.
I want to become all flame for Jesus.
I want to keep the fire burning on the altar of my life at all times.
I want to carry the light and heat of His holy presence wherever I go and to whoever I meet.
Keep us ablaze for you, Lord.
Love,
Theo
