Firewood
Last year, we focused on revival, praying for spiritual awakening and transformation through the power of Christ. However, this does not mean that we are to wait passively for Christ to transform us; only when we actively surrender and partner with God will true revival occur.
For the most part, our communion with God has been through an altar; it is a holy place, set apart for fellowship with the Holy One. In the Old Testament, wood was placed on the altar with offerings to be consumed by holy fire. Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice (Genesis 22:6-9); Elijah rebuilt the altar and laid the wood down beneath the offering before God sent fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:30-39); the Levitical priests added fresh wood daily and arranged offerings in obedience to God’s commands (Leviticus 6:12). Time and again, Firewood points to offerings laid on the altar, representing the worshiper’s act of sacrifice and wholehearted devotion towards God.
This year our vision, Firewood, involves the willful surrender of our lives before God, just as Jesus did. The spotless, sinless Lamb of God willingly offered up His Spirit in submission to the Father’s will, bearing all of our sin before the Father’s holy fire (Hebrews 7:26-27). His work on the cross not only gives believers everlasting atonement, but also changes the way we commune with God: the veil is torn, and we no longer need the Levitical priests to intercede on our behalf because we have Jesus as our High Priest (Hebrews 7:25). God, who once dwelt with us in the person of Christ, now dwells in us by His Spirit, making our very bodies living temples, built together as a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Peter 2:5). As such, our hearts and lives can now be the very altars where His holy fire falls to refine and ignite lasting devotion (Hebrews 12:28-29).
But, like the disciples, we often resist the sacrifice that this kind of devotion requires. When Jesus told the disciples that He must suffer and die, Peter pulled Him aside and rebuked Him. Yet Jesus instead warned Peter, telling him, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of man” (Mark 8:33). Like Peter, we often reject God’s truth because it is uncomfortable, preferring a relationship with Him on our own terms.
Knowing this, Jesus calls us to willingly offer our lives as sacrifice:
“And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Luke 9:23–24 (ESV)
Deny Yourself
Fresh wood cannot be used as Firewood. When burned, it will produce toxic smoke and must first be dried of its moisture. In the same way, we must recognize that our sinful nature corrupts all that we bring to God. Only through His cleansing can we offer sacrifice and worship acceptable to Him. In a world that teaches us to build our lives around ourselves, Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. This begins with honest self-examination and recognition that we have not made Christ the center of our lives (Lamentations 3:40). Instead, we have placed ourselves, our selfish desires, and other idols at His feet. However, acknowledgement by itself is not enough. To follow Him wholeheartedly, we must abandon our sin with desperation and come before God emptied of self-sufficiency (Matthew 5:3; Psalm 51:17). Only when we recognize the urgency of laying ourselves as offerings on the altar will God begin His work of cleansing us through His refining fire (1 John 1:9; Malachi 3:3).
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Him
The Firewood must then be personally carried to the altar by the one who offers sacrifice. Jesus carried His cross to Calvary. He suffered, endured persecution, and bore the punishment of our sins for us. This perfect offering was made not because we deserved it, but out of agape love for us, knowing we could never earn it (1 John 4:10). And now He calls us to follow in His footsteps (1 John 2:6). To take up our cross is to follow Christ in the same pattern of sacrificial love: willing to bear self-denial, hardship, and opposition for His sake, and the sake of the gospel (Ephesians 5:1-2). We do not carry our wooden cross out of grim obligation, but in joyful response to His overwhelming grace and mercy (Hebrews 12:2). When we truly understand this gift of grace, our desire will be to please Him and worship Him, to present our bodies as living sacrifices in service to God (Romans 12:1).
Lose Your Life to Find It
As fuel, Firewood must be consumed in order to sustain the fire that gives off light. In the same way, we must lose our lives to find true life, so that the transforming power of the gospel shines brightly through us. This begins with redefining what we believe true life really is. True life involves the recognition that the fleshly pleasures and false securities of the temporary world are inferior in comparison to the joy and fulfillment that comes from doing the will of God (1 John 2:15-17). Jesus declared that His true food and sustenance was to do the will of the Father who sent Him (John 4:31-34). If doing God’s will can satisfy us so completely that we can forgo essential physical needs, then it will all the more satisfy us to forgo worldly desires that only tempt and corrupt us. This is the true life God invites us into, for we were created for His glory to do His will (Isaiah 43:6-7; 1 Corinthians 10:31). We enter it fervently, anticipating Christ’s return and the eternal weight of glory that awaits us in heaven (Colossians 3:4). Therefore, we do not lose our lives reluctantly. We lose them eagerly, knowing exactly who it is for and what we are gaining.