Playing with Fire

Flames burn stuff.  This is no great scientific discover I realize.  It is also not surprising that when a man asked to play with a lighter, he is going to set stuff on fire. It's science really.  So when the fire alarms at my friend's apartment went off after I'd been playing with her lighter for her candles, I wasn't surprised. What I was surprised at was that she was surprised that I would use said lighter to burn things, as if all I wanted to do with it was make it a pretty ornament or something. As history tells us, men with lighters and paper lying around means that fire will be in the near future.

Yes, I realize that it is not necessarily the smartest thing to do to set paper on fire with a candle lighter but it's fun.  Heck, it's a blast! And I did specifically ask my friend Maison if I could play with her lighter in the apartment. So as I sat there playing with the fire, the thought of fire alarms or other people in the building being mad if they went off never crossed my mind.  However, a few minutes after I played with said fire, well, people started to panic.

I couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the fire alarms going off. After all, I was playing with fire. And it sucked even more that the wind chill outside made the temperature below freezing.  People were panicked, my friend Maison was furious, and I was just trying to keep my mouth shut so the other residents wouldn't find out.  Fire trucks rolled up, building managers showed, and people were in a tizzy while I, well I couldn't help but feel somewhat to blame!

There is a happy ending in this for me, though. It turned out that the freeze had caused pipes in the building to freeze and explode, resulting in an alarm.  My excessive paper burning had nothing to do with it. But I learned a couple of things from this. 1) That God has a sick sense of humor some times and 2) that playing with fire doesn't just mean one person gets the brunt of the consequences, but that everybody does.

We all do some stupid stuff now and then, but playing with fire is more than that.  When we "play with fire," we don't just goof up, we ask to goof up yet expect nothing to happen.  Just as I asked my friend for the lighter with the intention of lighting something on fire, we sometimes seek to be defiant and goof up.  But the reality is, when we seek to "play with fire," the result is that everybody around us is at risk for paying for our mistake.  Everybody has to stand out in the cold and watch the alarms go off because of what we did.

But there is good news.  The grace God offers all of us covers all sin.  Furthermore, the love that God gives to us all and the opportunities that we can love others covers "...a multitude of sin." (1 Peter 4:8)  So this week, whether we have been playing with fire or simply dancing around fire, know that the forgiveness God offers is abundant, it is refreshing, and it is healing. And it's free! May you seek to douse of the flames of sin with the flame of righteous living.

KB

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  -1 John 1:9