“For our God is a consuming fire.”

I’m doing some work with a small company that has never been good at assessing new hires. They feel like they always come up short when it comes to sussing out who are really committed and willing to do what it takes to get the job done. They have been burnt too many times with people who say they want the job, will work hard and want to go the extra mile, only to find out after they hire them that they come up short. We’ve talked about this many times and part of it may well be that the company is not giving an accurate explanation and preview of how hard the work can really be, but I tend to think that it is more that they just aren’t able to find and listen to “why” it is that someone wants to do their job for them. It’s not just this company. I see it all over. We all miss it too often and have a hard time getting to that intangible drive that is the one that makes us want to work extra hard, put up with more than we should, and bounce back after rejection or defeat. The best I have been able to come to is that we have to get enough to the core to figure out where that “drive” (if it is there) comes from in each person. It’s no different as to why one student drives him/herself so hard for the A and another person is satisfied with the B or the C. Or, an athlete who burns inside to win and knows that second place is just the first loser. Whatever the drive that burns inside of them, the better we can get at finding it, assessing it, and then testing as to whether it will continue to burn strong in our company, the better off we will be.

When we believe and follow Jesus, if we allow it, it can be like a consuming fire that becomes the true driver of our lives. A fire that burns inside someone can’t help but make things happen. The question we have to ask ourselves, over and over, is are we wanting and willing to keep that fire stoked within us at all times? We do that by seeking and staying close to the Lord in our reading of His Word, in our prayers, and with the fellowship of other believers. We all know that our work can many times act as a damper to that fire and cut off the needed oxygen to keep it burning strong inside of us. Let’s be sure and today not let the fire be consumed by those things that want to tamp and put it out, but instead, feed the fire with God’s pure fuel so that the fire truly consumes us!

Reference: Luke 9:62 (New Living Testament)