Here in the Midwest, we are in the midst of a cold snap that has temperatures in the dangerous range. The wind chill can cause frostbite very quickly. Experts are warning that people should not be outside for very long, and if they are, they need to wear appropriate clothing to keep them warm and safe.
The cold outside seems to somehow echo the cold I know I have battled in my faith. The cold is uncomfortable at first. Stand in it for a few minutes, however, and you begin to feel numb. Sometimes that numbness comes with a prickling sensation. Sometimes there is just the numbness, and you can’t feel the damage occurring.
How often does that happen in our faith? A chill invades our heart, from offense or wounds or hurt. We feel uncomfortable. Maybe we miss Him and we turn back. Maybe we recognize that discomfort as a warning. Or maybe we use the cold to fuel apathy. Either way, we then become numb. Numb is deceptive. We don’t feel cold. The discomfort eases. If there is a warning, it could be in that pricking sensation in our conscience. Again, we can heed the warning or dismiss it.
The danger with numbness is that damage is beginning to occur. The longer a body in extreme cold feels numb, the greater the chances of frostbite and hypothermia. Spiritually, numbness leads to damage, and often we are unaware it is happening until it is too late.
My youngest daughter was obsessed with the movie "Frozen." In it, Anna has her heart frozen by Elsa (her Sister) and only true love can thaw it so she can live. We spend most of the movie wondering which guy will be Anna's "true love," only to discover at the end that the true love that could heal Anna's heart was found by the giving of herself for her sister, by sacrificing her life for another. I found it intriguing that true love didn't come with a man, a kiss, or even friendship. True love, the kind that heals, came with a sacrifice.
The cold gets to me. I struggle in the cold. My muscles and joints hurt. I hate the feeling of not being able to get warm. But even if I am struggling with the atmosphere outside, the inside of me is warm, because the sacrifice has been made already. Anna's sacrifice for her sister is simply an animated example (sort of) of what has already been done for us. Jesus already gave himself up so we could live eternally. He didn't turn to ice and then magically become thawed and healed. He died. He overcame the grave. He rose again. He bears the scars... and those scars still exist today.
The cold outside is a big topic of conversation on social media. Pipes are freezing and bursting. Cars don’t want to start. Inside my humble little apartment, we are enjoying the last of our Christmas break. The decorations are coming down from our holiday celebrations. My ten year old came home from playing with a friend, and she was sad that the decorations were being boxed up once again, to wait until next year.
"The Christmas decorations getting put away means that the Christmas spirit is gone." She sulked.
"No," I told her "The Spirit of Christmas is actually the Spirit of Jesus. He is always with us." I told her.
But is He? With the bitter cold outside, I realized how often our faith can feel as cold as the Arctic winter weather outside my door. We have hurts, frustrations, grief. We are wounded, broken vessels so much of the time. Like Anna in Frozen, how many of us believe that we can be healed by a person or things, endlessly searching for something that will warm us, for a passion that is bigger than us, for something or someone that can consume us? We see the cold around us, the dark that comes too early, and long for the warmth and green of Spring.
Rest assured, Spring will come. The earth rests in winter, but that doesn't mean that in its center isn't a ball of fire and magma. That doesn't mean that warmer weather isn't coming. In our times of early dark and bitter cold, we may long to hibernate and protect ourselves.
There are times in our walk with God when we feel that we are in the midst of bitter, bone-chilling cold; when our hearts feel like ice and the warmth seems like it will never arrive again. We see day after day of that same cold, and we try to warm ourselves, but the cold still awaits, just outside the door. As long as we are uncomfortable with the cold, we will seek His warmth. Be careful about feeling numb. Be careful, because damage is occurring. Stay cold enough long enough, and it can lead to death.
We forget, when the snow piles up and the mercury drops, that the center of the earth is a flaming fire. And we forget that that at the center of our faith, no matter how we feel, is another flaming fire.
"For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29
A red-hot fire awaits us, waiting to warm us, waiting to fill us, longing to melt the ice in our hearts and set our soul ablaze... with Him, for Him. He has already sacrificed Himself for us. He has already caused a blaze around the world, and it has continued to burn for centuries. And He longs to burn in us, to burn away the waste in our life that takes away from His simple grace. He longs to burn away the cold in us left by disappointments, by wounds, by grief, and fill us with Himself, to consume us with His fire.
"You are Holy. You are worthy. You are Holy. You're the Lamb of God." Sings out from my bluetooth speaker, as Tenth Avenue North fills my home. The cold seeps in as the last of the decorations are stored for next Christmas in our outside storage closet. I am reminded that the cold may try to invade, but God is inside me, and He isn't so easily frozen out. He is a flame, a burning flame, just waiting to kindle to life and burn away the dross, the worthless, the junk, the things that attempt to freeze my heart and clutter my mind.
God's fire is a force that is difficult to defeat. The wind of the Holy Spirit spreads the flame of fire from person to person. It grows in people until they are consumed. Their lives are never the same. The fire touches hearts, thoughts, actions, words, and destinies. The fire of God is a force to be reckoned with, greater than any wildfire, spreading through nations, a fire that laws or oppression or even persecution can't stop. It is the fire that comes from the greatest sacrifice.
Take precautions against the cold. Change your environment for a bit. Don’t stand in the snow and wind, but seek a warm shelter. Dress appropriately by putting on your armor. May your stocking cap be you helmet of salvation, your coat your breastplate, your boots your shoes of peace and so forth. Fuel yourself with the warming comfort foods of praise, worship, and the Word of God. You will find, as you do these things, that the numbness will leave.
I have a warning: The return of sensation and feeling after being cold and numb can be painful at first. If damage has occurred while you were numb, this is when it will be discovered. Rest assured that Jesus can heal any wounds, but they still might require attention. It is easier to feel numb than to deal with why you went cold and numb. When the numbness is gone, you then have to deal with the wounds, the grief, the hurts, the pain.
There are seasons of life, both on the Earth and in our journey with the Lord. Winters are often the hardest for many of us. Seasonal affective disorder means that the dark and cold can get to us emotionally. Our mood plummets. Sometimes, the cold in our hearts comes from fighting the darkness and apathy around us for too long. It drags us down. But light up your world. Put the light of Jesus around you in the dark, like candles and fairy lights. Let His Word and His presence bathe you in soft comfort. Let His fire glow inside you, bringing warmth and light like a fireplace, chasing away the cold and dark.
Intentionally light the fire.
And know that until Spring comes with her warmth and new life, the fire of God is inside you, powerful enough to fuel fuel your faith and thaw your frozen, numb heart.
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