DON’T SIMMER DOWN | Lukewarm Isn’t An Option

I love candles so much that they’ve become a line item in the family budget. I burn through at least one a week.

So my thoughtful daughter bought me a candle warmer, a kind of lamp whose bulb melts wax into a slow, fragrant simmer and extends the life of the candle.

After a few hours, the melted wax covers a wick you no longer need.

"Brilliant idea!" I said. So efficient! So safe! So practical!

But after a few days, I missed what I once had. The striking of the match, the whoosh of blue sulphur, the glow that pierced the darkness long into the night — that's what I love most about candles.

The flame.

Candles aren’t meant to plug in and simmer. Candles are meant to burn bright till the end.

And as Jesus says, so are we.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14).

Remember when we learned the song, ”This Little Light of Mine?”

Somewhere along the way, we forgot an important stanza: 

“Let it shine till Jesus comes.”

When our shine began to cost too much, it made sense to simmer down and plug in for a back-burner, candle-warmer kind of Christian life.

But buried deep beneath the rising puddle of rules and recitations is a wick that longs to feel the Spirit’s flame.

Sure we’ve had brighter days. Roll down the window and crank up the praise song kinda seasons. But as darkness grows with every passing mile, we worry that we’ll burn out.

To play it safe, we simmer down our enthusiasm and play it cool.

But cool Christians don't light up the world. They cast shadows.

Yet the God who says, “Let there be light,” wants you to remember this truth:

The most brilliant part of a shadow’s life is the moment God’s rays break through.

Jesus wants to enter the dimmest corners of your faith and light up your entire life.

"I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." (John 8:12, NLT)

Jesus has no intention of letting your little light go out. He’ll never extinguish the work He’s begun in you.

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory" (Matthew 12:20).

Jesus won’t stop till He’s done, and neither will you.

Our God is a consuming fire; His message within us is a blazing torch, unplugged, unhindered, held high as He rescues people out of the domain of darkness and brings them into the Light.

His Light.

All-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing, raining down from Heaven upon our thirsty wicks with tongues of fire.

Calling us His children, commanding us to shine His glorious light into the darkness until Jesus comes.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

We’ve been handed one candle, only one.

No matter what it costs us, let’s keep shining His light until we’re done.