A Closer Call

Luke 3:16-17 – “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

I think of fire as a destructive force. Anyone who has witnessed the wildfires in Southern California has experienced that force firsthand. Life is consumed in the path of the blaze, and everything in its wake is dead. Our life experience becomes the lens through which we read Scripture. When I hear the verse above, it’s usually in the context of a “turn or burn” sermon, calling sinners to repent and turn to God or be forever lost. Such an interpretation comes from a heart that only sees God as vengeful and angry. So when I hear John’s words about the fire of the Holy Spirit, my first thoughts aren’t always good, but that’s because I’m interpreting heavenly things by an earthly standard. Heavenly fire strengthens and purifies.

If the experiences of our life have taught us that we are only valued when we get things right, then we have a tough time seeing God as our advocate and helper. Jesus came that we might have life, an abundance of life that flows from the Spirit and strengthens our heart in every circumstance. Jesus is the real interpretation of all that God is, so I cannot have an interpretive lens that does not match Jesus’ nature.

John the Baptist came to prepare God’s people for a greater and more intimate encounter with God. John’s gospel was life-giving because the call to repentance was a call toward life. Jesus’ winnowing fork does not come in judgment of people, but of sin in the lives of His people. He comes to help us take out the waste, the chaff, so that only the fruitful wheat remains. Then Jesus gathers us into His barn; He takes us into His home as His own possession having been purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our advocate and helper, forever at work to bring us closer and closer to Jesus.

This year it’s my prayer that we learn to embrace the fire of the Holy Spirit in a new way, to embrace the winnowing fork of Jesus. The baptism we need most as Christ-followers is the purifying love of God that burns up the lesser loves in our life. Are you willing to ask the Lord for His fire, for the baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire? Pray with me this brave prayer this year that we may be gathered into His home and become fruitful ones for His Kingdom.