A HOLY FIRE

Stafford Greer, Bearspaw Lead Site Pastor

In previous To The Pointe devotionals I began to unpack some of the meaning of my tattoo sleeve and why I chose what I did to permanently mark my body. I mentioned that I found myself drawn to Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah not so much because I saw them in myself, but because I resonated with each of them in different ways:

Both Moses and Jeremiah at first resisted the call of Yahweh on their lives and interestingly they both gave God the same excuse: “Me not a good speaker, you no want." Isaiah was more reluctant because he was aware of his sinfulness and objected. All three of their responses brought up their inadequacies and insecurities as excuses to why they thought God couldn’t use them.

In my years of pastoral ministry, I’ve discovered that people still respond with a similar objection: I’m not good/moral/holy/smart/educated/skilled enough to be effectively used by God. Like Moses, we can often compare ourselves to others and recommend that God call them in our place (choose Aaron instead of me! Exodus 4:14-16).

As smart as we think we are, these kind of excuses don’t fool God; he seems to delight in using ordinary, unknown, flawed, and broken people to reveal his glory to others.

When I was designing my tattoo, these themes of inadequacy, brokenness, fear, and insecurity were swirling around in my head and heart. When I went back and read some of these passages, I discovered the presence of a holy fire that accompanied the stories of Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah.

For Moses, Yahweh appeared to him as a holy fire that burned, yet did not consume, the bush.

For Jeremiah, after being a prophet for some time (and genuinely lamenting that calling), Jeremiah wanted to keep his mouth shut and stop sharing the word of the Lord. His response was that even if he did everything to stop talking, it felt like his bones were on fire:

“But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Jeremiah 20:9

For Isaiah, it was the flaming coal from the altar that touched his lips to make him clean.

But the appearance of holy fire on ordinary people did not stop there: we see it continuing into the new covenant. On the day of Pentecost, the scripture writers recall:

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” - Acts 2:2-3

Just two chapters later in Acts 4, we see Peter and John - who had experienced the fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit - hauled before the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin for questioning. The response of the religious leaders is worth noting:

“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” - Acts 4:13

My tattoo - and the fire throughout the design - is a reminder to me, a very flawed, ordinary, broken, sinful person, that God continues to do the purifying work in my life for his glory. He asks for my (and your) obedience in his calling. And while we may fear our own inadequacies and flaws, that doesn’t deter him from calling us. He is the one who will purify and transform us with his holy fire.