March 04, 2011
Smoldering
News coverage of the wild fires in Florida showed a charred tree stump that began to smolder when the wind changed directions. A short time later the smolder was fanned into flames. I try to work with and use the gifts God has given me, but I’m not so sure I’ve ever tried fanning them into flames. Paul told Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Tim 1:6 NIV)
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----I can get my mind around the wind blowing a smoldering tree stump into flames. Char bought a bellow for our wood stove. Many times I have scooped a pile of cold charcoal from the last burn to the front of the stove and stacked kindling and logs on top of them. Then all I have to do is touch one of the charcoal pieces with the flame of a match and blow on the resulting spark with the bellow. Within a minute or two I have a fire. I can put my hands to this. But how do you fan a gift or talent or skill into flames? What is there to touch or pump at with a bellow?
-----Whether the Holy Spirit poked it into you or assembled it from your past experiences, a gift is an innate ability. But like the spark on the charcoal, it is just there. Attention is the product of interest, focus, and time. Through my college experiences, I learned I could spend time focusing my study on what did not really interest me, e.g. statistics. I did not learn it well because that did not equate to full mental attention. But cost accounting did interest me, and I learned it well. Whereas statistics has yet been only a spark within me, my better attention given cost accounting fanned it into an ember. I have never forgotten it, but neither have I had a chance to use it. It is yet an ember. Well structured attention puffs sparks into embers and fans embers to glowing white hot, but flames need wood.
-----Wood comes with the application. Paul wrote, “If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” (I Cor 8:2) When in college, I imagined all the neatly prepared schedules and documents containing the information I might need to complete a job. When in practice I found important information scribbled onto flaps torn off envelops. It reminded me of the poetry I used to write on napkins. So I took interest in the fact that the importance of information bears no relationship to the modesty of its carrier. Whenever I lacked information, I focused on anything which might possibly carry it. In time I discovered that even the expression on a client’s face or the tone of his voice carried information about what question I should ask next. This was knowledge not written in books or taught in classes. It came from attentive doing. And that fanned the embers I carried off the campus into flames.
-----Interest, focus, and time spent studying the Word is attention given it. It sparks the charcoal of your soul and fans it into glowing embers. But the people around you are the wood for the flames. Yet there has to be that fanning to extract flame from the ember. It is the same fanning that brought the spark in you to a white glow. Attention. Take interest in the people around you. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Rom 12:15) Focus on who they are and study what they are and why they could be that way. I used to think these were things of not my business. But people are allusive about their needs, and their needs are why God gave your gifts, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (I Cor 12:7) The flames of your gift must involve those for whom God gave the gift to you. Fan them with attention.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Keep in mind that the tree did not fan itself into flame, that was the role of the pneuma.
Does that make the Holy Spirit our fan base?
Grace and Peace
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