Two Kinds of Fire - January 8, 2010

Daily Reading

Job 17-20

Daily Verse

I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

Job 19:25

Daily Thought

T.S. Eliot wrote,

The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-

To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Two kinds of fire. One consuming. We name it "despair." This fire burns out into emptiness. Another fire purifies. This is "hope." This fire burns on, it burns eternal.

We have a memory of eternity. God put it in our hearts, but it was buried deep by sin. It is a hope now hidden.

We live today in the tangible moment, consumed in pleasure and power and passion. But moments don't last.

These are the two fires: one momentary, consuming. The other eternal, unseen.

Job discovered that hope is a gift found in suffering. Wrestling with despair, he suddenly explodes, "My redeemer lives! I know it!!" He had opened the gift. In the middle of a fire that was consuming him, he found the fire that saves.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?

--Romans 8:24

T.S. Eliot's epitaph, his own words, "In my beginning is my end. ..In my end is my beginning."

Apart from Jesus, all of life points at an ending. A bad one, actually. Despair.

Open the gift of salvation, the end is no longer ominous, but the beginning of eternity.

To God's Glory,

Dave

Daily Prayer

Our Father, our Creator, our Sustainer, our ever-present help in time of trouble, our joy, our life, our passion, our love. May the desire for you consume us.

We seek first your kingdom, your way of life, your righteousness. We have confidence that everything else is best placed in your hands.

Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, our hope.

Amen