Great expecations and the act of surrender

Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29for our God is a consuming fire.

Okay, so there are a few things I understand about fire… the most basic thing about it is that it does not exist without something to consume. Nothing to burn off of= no burning. Simple, eh? Without wood- no fire, without oxygen, no fire- SOMETHING must be consumed. This verse declares that our God is a consuming fire, and here my thought began- what is being consumed?

I’m not going to beat around the bush with all the different explanations I’ve heard about this idea, I’m simply going to throw out how I’ve been understanding it. It begins with the Old Testament and the sacrifices; something there is consumed as something precious is given up. Something is laid out and put on the altar to God. We often see a separation between the Old and New Testaments, but I don’t think we should. Anyway, in a different verse of the New Testament, I do think we’re given the answer to what exactly is being consumed:

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship

You see, we must lie down on the altar willingly; it is an offering of ourselves to God so He can consume us. Our flesh must be done away with, the old nature, the old man- it must be destroyed… consumed. 1 Thessalonians 5 commands us to “NOT quench the spirit,” what can that mean if not that we can indeed end the fire in our lives by withdrawing what the fire consumes and burns off? Our God is a consuming fire and He has set a high standard of following Him- our very lives. It cost Him His own to even give us this chance; can we dare lower the bar of following? When Jesus called His disciples, He did not call them to a ten week trial experience, He called them to die. In my understanding, His commitment expectation was one of hatred towards family members and closest friends, abandonment of social positions or worldly statuses, giving up every possession they could claim, the possibility of ending up in a coffin, and disappearing from society altogether if necessary! His fire burns and consumes, we must present the fuel- it is our very lives. We must begin to realize that we have no rights anymore… to submit to Jesus everything is to say to Him, “I don’t care what it looks like in the end, I don’t care if I’m rich or poor, sick or healthy, weak or strong, smart or foolish, dead or alive, married or not, accepted or not, trusted or not, understood or not, or regarded or not- I’m going with you. I can’t do anything else.” We have no rights to will our own lives; we have no rights to expect anything at all.

I sometimes think that we forget what we truly deserve…

“For the wages of sin is death…”

I think that that we treat eternal life (the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord) as some sort of bonus feature for a life of expected prosperity, happy marriage, and fame. WE DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING OF THE SORT. It is by the grace of God alone that we do not get what we deserve, yet we gripe and whine about what we don’t have or about how we’re not being blessed in such and such way…

We don’t have rights anymore. Are you okay with that, or would you rather work out dig yourself out of hell on your own strength? To agree is to declare your sole allegiance to His name and to His will… to obey His commands because He’s your LORD. Do we know what that word really means? If it’s one thing we don’t think we have to do it’s obey- that won’t fly, check out Luke 6. John 15 says that the definition of love is obedience, hmm… so without obeying we can’t even claim to love Him. Seems fairly straight forward, His call to us is all or nothing- right now. We have no right to hold back any part of our lives from Him, not one relationship, not one moment of time in one week of our one life- it’s all His. To live in any other way is to tell God you know better than He does how to have an abundant life and that you don’t need His help, to disobey and declare your love for something else. 2 Peter says that whatever you obey is your master- Jesus says you can have only one master. Sooo… who’s it gonna be? Honestly, I’d rather He plan my life than me… I’m only twenty and I already screwed it up; He can have it and He can have it all. He gave me His life- I have given Him mine, that’s the trade, that’s His exchange offer, there’s no other way. He sets the bar because He paid the price. He’s the consuming fire and I’ll gladly be the fuel that His glory burns off of.

Submit.

Lay down on that altar.

Be consumed.

Die.

There’s no other way.