Flame On!

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
(Mathew 5:14 – ESV)

The Roman Emperor Nero (54-68 AD) was a madman and murderer, who arbitrarily and mercilessly crucified believers. During events at the Coliseum, he would feed Christians to lions, and he often lit his parties with the burning carcasses of Christians used as human torches. Certainly he was demonically inspired, and probably possessed, and is regarded by some as the Antichrist himself. He eventually committed suicide, and he is known more for his atrocities than his achievements. His influence didn’t last beyond his life, but those Christians whom he killed have lived on in the spirit of believers ever since.

Those martyrs may have seemed little more than fuel for the crazed monarch, but they did not die in vain. Indeed, they shined the light of Christ and stoked the fires of a movement that had just started, but that will have no end. No matter how many bodies Nero put to death, the spiritual life of Christians could not be put out. Their bodies may have burned away but their flame has never died out and it has been giving Christians fuel for faith down through the centuries. Nero and countless others have tried to snuff it out but the fire keeps on burning.

I remember watching the movie "The Perfect Storm" and I noticed how, when the waves were crashing and the wind was blowing and all the terror happening, the captain went out to fix the radio antennae using a blowtorch. My wife remarked, "How come that thing doesn't go out with all that wind and water hitting it?" It was because a blowtorch is made to withstand the elements; there is simply too much power in that firelight for it to go out. The torch has its own oxygen and fuel supply. It has enough heat and gas pressure to be immune to problems that could put it out.

I pray that God might make us like blowtorches in the midst of the dark storms ahead. The enemy and his minions cannot hide true lights from shining, so they try and silence them, but even in death, sometimes especially in death, the light burns brighter than ever.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©