Gas Range/Pilot Light
WORD PICTURE: GAS RANGE/PILOT LIGHT Scriptural Reference: Psalm 69:8-9
I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons;
for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
1. Have someone(s) read the scriptures from various translations.
2. Showing an actual gas range, (or perhaps using an advertisement or owner’s manual) describe how a gas oven has a pilot light -- something like a lit wick -- and the oven doesn’t work until it’s lit. We are like that -- God puts a wick into every one He creates and that wick makes us yearn for Him: the One and Only True God. We yearn to be lit. We are restless and not “right” until that wick is lit. Then we are on fire!
3. My sharing, offered to spark sharing by others.
What I Shared
Zeal is evidence that we are on fire, that we have made the decision to invite the light. The Holy Spirit has come in and we have been newly born and baptized -- not by water but by the Spirit and by FIRE. (John 3:5-6: Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[ gives birth to spirit.) For me, the Holy Spirit started by “cooking up” a hunger for fellowship with Christ and His Word. (John 6:54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.)
In my case, I don’t think fellowship means going for communion every morning at 7 a.m. (Romans 10:2: For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge). It’s about me remaining in fellowship with Christ and His Word (blood and flesh).
I don’t think it means being lukewarm. (Revelation 3:15,16: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.)
I don’t think it means blending into the world. (Romans 10:9-13: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.")
The truth is that, in my experience, I have become more and more alien (to the everyday world) due to my zeal, just like in Psalm 69. I have much less interest now than I used to have in the things of the world. An example: when terrorists were threatening to execute someone (and eventually did), my issue was his eternal life. All else has become gravel in my mouth (Proverbs 20:17:Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel), and I’m not hungry for that! Apparently the Holy Spirit did this changing of me -- first creating the hunger and now sowing evidence that I am what I eat. My question tonight is:
How would you describe yourself as a “pilot light” or a “wick”? Are you lit, not lit, or on fire?
All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).
Copyright by Whitney McKendree Moore, June 2007