Norm Sawyer

Our Personal Fires Norm Sawyer

Proverbs 30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Modern attitudes in the church are resembling the actions Aaron's sons took in their approach toward their reverence of God. They interpreted what they felt was right through their own eyes, not considering the laws of God to be followed or acknowledged. Nadab and Abihu had slipped into their prideful state of - I will do religion my way, and God had better be satisfied with the fact that He has me serving Him. Lev. 10:1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Nadab and Abihu played a dangerous game within their priestly relationship toward God. Some Christians are doing the same thing by ignoring what God has said to be righteous and true. There is grace for our ignorance, but God expects us to be circumspect before Him and our fellow man as we mature. We are not to bring a critical interpretation to what God has already pronounced as sacrosanct. Isa. 14:24 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.

Our personal fires burn and smoulder within our staunch and sometimes misguided beliefs. We can burn with indignation, prejudice, pride, bias, and resentment toward others who think differently. As Christians, we have to be careful not to bring our strange or profaned fire to the altar of God's righteousness. Just because we happen to feel a certain way does not mean we have God's omniscient view of the situation. We can sometimes fool ourselves into thinking we are doing God's bidding when in fact, it is our own religious interpretation of what is right, thus reacting toward others in a loveless way. We end up adulterating our relationship with God by using our own strange fire.

You cannot declare something right just because a new trend now says it is socially acceptable. We have to go to God in prayer to determine what the Holy Spirit says is righteous. Phil. 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Instead of rewriting the counsel of God, ask Him what the truth is concerning sinful activity becoming socially accepted.

I am amazed at the subjects Christians become polarised over and will argue as holy when it is just a personal bias. We can read on different media platforms how dogmatic people have become. In some cases, so-called forthright people have no problem heartlessly damning another person because they have a different opinion on a subject. This carnal method of measuring right and wrong is not God's holy approach to righteousness. It is a rewrite of God's word to suit modern unrighteous proclivities. Prov. 30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.