Every summer, Battle Creek hosts a balloon festival. It’s a big deal where I work because the Post Sugar Bear balloon is part of the action. It’s a big deal in my extended family because we have made a mini-tradition of going to the show. We eat slushies, ride carnival rides, hang out, and watch the balloons.
It’s kind of amazing when you stop and think about it. Humans jump in a basket, drape a huge piece of fabric over their heads, and start a fire between the two. Crazy enough when you put it that way, but there’s more. Next they defy gravity and fly away!
You’re crazy too! You Christian, you! “You decide you’re going to be a Jesus follower, He lights a fire in your life, and you expect to take off? Don’t you know that’s not the way the world works?!?” That’s exactly how someone who does not know the Lord thinks about people like us: “You’re crazy and it’s not going to work.”
Just like when someone who skipped science class thinks the balloonist is crazy and it’s not going to work. But that guy in the balloon knows something. He knows that by heating up the air inside that balloon, he’s going to make it rise.
Time for Christian science class (or something like that)! We know that by believing in Jesus, by putting our faith and trust in Him, by receiving His love and forgiveness…we are “heated up,” and our life begins to rise. Eventually we will even rise from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)!
Here’s the encouragement, Christian friends: keep burning that fire! If you do, you will defy the “gravity” of this world. And you’re going to be a marvel for the people who know you. They will see the power of God at work in you. And you might be the sight they need to see to start believing for themselves.
Don’t let your fire go out! Without feeding it and caring for it, you’ll slowly sink back to the ground. How deflating! (dad jokes 3:16)
Here are a few key ways to keep the fire burning (Acts 2:42-47):
Go to church in person
Worship with songs of praise (see #1)
Pray (see #1 for a kickstart to your personal week in prayer)
Read and study the bible (see #1 for a kickstart to your personal week in scripture)
Fellowship with other believers (see #1 and definitely get into a Community Group)
I guess you could say that going to church is 🔥