"On Fire" and Burnt Out

All it took was three consecutive baskets. Three consecutive baskets, and your player was "on fire" in the '90s arcade classic, "NBA Jams." A player "on fire" could run faster (unlimited turbo), block more shots, and make more baskets. Kids across the country (including the short Asian kid who grew up to write this blog) were able to live out their dreams in this video game.

Christians sometimes talk about being "on fire" for God. This usually refers to an experience of unusual religious excitement, a deep emotional sense of the closeness of God, and sudden radical life change demonstrated in tangible life decisions. Christians "on fire" for God feel like they can do anything, spiritually speaking.

When I first came to believe in Jesus, I lived to be "on fire" for God. Being "on fire" was evidence to me that God is real. It helped me feel good about myself. No matter how much I struggled with living for God during the week, I could count on the religious experience of being "of fire" to help me feel like I was still a good person.

The problem was that being "on fire" did not really change me at all. It did not make me really love God any more throughout the week. It did not help me understand God. It did not help me love others more. In fact, it really made me obnoxious and judgmental more than anything else. If people who are "on fire" for God scare you, I would have really freaked you out back in high school. Worst of all, when the fire was smothered by the bleak realities of life, I grew bitter, cynical, and burnt out. There is something about the pursuit of a life "on fire" for God that can be as fanciful and self-absorbed as playing NBA Jams (fun for a video game, but harsh for life).

During the 1800s a wave of revival was sweeping the country, and people who wanted to live lives that were "on fire" for God were walking down the aisle to sit on an "Anxious Bench" where a preacher would pressure them to change their lives. John Nevin wrote about this new wave of religious excitement that was sweeping the church during the 19th century in his book The Anxious Bench. A harsh critic of this movement, Nevin observed:

"Religion is not regarded as the life of God in the soul that must be cultivated in order that it may grow, but rather as a transient excitement to be renewed from time to time by suitable stimulants presented to the imagination."

A life in pursuit of being "on fire" for God is really not a life that requires faith in God at all. Dressed in the guise of religion and spirituality, being "on fire" for God is really neither about trusting God nor pleasing God; it thrives from a deep desire to trust in ourselves and to please ourselves.

There is Good News for people burnt out from the pursuit of a life "on fire" for God (or for other things that we would place in God's place). There is someone who gives us a reason to have hope when we can find no more reasons to have any hope in ourselves. The Gospel declares to us that God is "fired up". In fact, he is a consuming fire who will burn away everyone who fails to measure up to his moral perfection. Yet in Jesus Christ, this same God has delivered us from ourselves and made us part of a world without end by sending his Son to suffer and die in our place on the cross and rise again to eternal life. If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself.

In a world filled with "how to" messages that leave us feeling guilty, worn out, inadequate, or obnoxious, self-righteous, and judgmental; God gives us a Savior. The life of faith in Jesus Christ really does change our lives. But Jesus does not change us through fleeting excitements. Jesus works slowly and steadily in the hearts of those who believe in him through their set-backs and backsliding, calling them through his Word again and again to turn away from themselves and trust on him. This is "the life of God in the soul that must be cultivated in order that it may grow." This life comes from the careful study of Jesus' words in the Bible in the church - a community of broken people that he calls to himself so they may build one another up in the Gospel and exalt their God and Savior.