Burn up or burn down for God?
A few definitions before we start, so everyone understands what I mean:
A house burns down. Everything is lost, it has no purpose, only damage. It’s off no use to anyone.
Down is also “down”. All goes to the ground.
A candle burns up. It has a function that has added value. He gives light in the darkness, brings joy and more.
Up is also upwards… to the heavens. Up.
In our work, we (unfortunately) see more than enough people where there is no fire left. Sometimes there really isn’t anything left of it. And that is sad to see. The question is always, how did that happen and what went wrong? Did they burn up or down?
The target groups where we (unfortunately) often encounter it are the volunteers at missionary organizations, among others. They have sometimes literally sacrificed themselves for a good cause.. But now it comes…
Back to that candle… suppose I put that candle in a draft so that it starts to smoke and therefore burns out faster than it was intended for…
Suppose I buy a candle that can burn for 24 hours. Nice for the evenings at the campsite. If I put it on for 4 hours every night, I’ll enjoy it for 6 days. But no…. Even though it is day, I just leave that candle on…. Doesn’t sound like efficient, and although the candle certainly brought light into the darkness for a few hours, and certainly also gave pleasure…. now it had already burned down after one day instead of burning up in 6 days…
And now we go a little further…
Incense…. You see that being used in the bible as an offering to God. That too gets burnt up… before God. And now we come to the following Bible verse:
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16
Read it again….
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16
Do you see what it says? Christ sacrificed his life for us. Therefore, we too must sacrifice our lives for our brothers. Wow! That sounds extreme! Well… let’s continue:
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:25-27
Well, that must be a mistake, right? That is mega-extreme… well, no. Jesus himself really said it several times, (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Matthew 8:19-20, Matthew 10:38 and many, many more times) so you can’t ignore this…
And now on to our work and the work every Christian should(!) do (Matthew 28:16-20)….
What we do for Christ has consequences. A candle burns up, if it doesn’t, something isn’t right. An incense burns up, if it doesn’t, something isn’t right.
What we do and must do for God has Divine added value. He gives light in the darkness, brings joy and more. And that means our candle eventually burns up too… Do we mind? No, on the contrary:
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:12
Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
Revelation 22:12
The trick is only to burn up Divinely efficiently to God as incense for His glory and not to burn down inefficiently. And now you can think: you know what, I’ll sit comfortably on the couch, then I’ll live longer, and I’ll also have more chances that someone will visit me to hear The Good News… well… no:
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,]each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:14-30
Doing nothing is not an option, but doing something definitely has consequences. And that brings us to the last verse for today:
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
It is not allowed to burn yourself down without a Divine benefit, because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But doing nothing is absolutely not an option either, because you have to use(!) your body to give honor to God.
Do you put your energy, money, life in the ground, or do you work with it for His glory and burn up as living incense before Him? And for what percentage do you do that? Lukewarm, cold or warm?
And imagine… you go for it for the full 110%! It really costs you everything! Was it worth it for His glory? If your answer is yes, nothing wrong with that. It’s worth the sacrifice. A great prize is waiting for you. Can’t wait honestly. 🙂
Or were you really way too busy, was it (if you look at it now) not efficient, and you should have done something else so that you could have continued with it a little longer?
And now the question for you, my friend: What are you going to do today? We hope and pray that you don’t burn down, but burn up for His beautiful purpose.
