Moth's

There I was, sitting around a fire I had just built, alone at Simon House Bible Camp. The kids had just gone home and there would not be more till Sunday afternoon, freedom. The fire was a little bigger than I intended, but there was no wind, and the everything was wet, no need to worry, besides the heat was nice. The power went out a short time later, and the only light in the camp was either my fire or someone’s flashlight.

I sat there staring into the fire, praying and reflecting upon the week past, and then God brought something rather odd and intriguing to my mind. As the other lights had gone out around camp, all the moths that were on the near by buildings were now being drawn to the light of my fire. The odd part was that the Moth’s didn’t realize that not only was the fire beautiful and attractive but it was also fiercely hot and harmful. The Moth’s flew right into the flame of the fire, and than dropped into the ashes, dead. God asked me if that made any sense? I didn’t quite get it until I was praying the next day. I sat above the waves like I had dreamed of doing the whole school year and God just hit me with it.

“I have brought you passed so many fires this year, yet you have not taken your eyes off the one true fire. You have remained in the one fire that will not harm your life, the one that will only enlighten you and draw you nearer to me. All the ones you have come by this year would have damaged you and drawn you from my presence. I told you what I desired of you and you obeyed. Warn them!”

It just so happened I had signed up to testify in the service we would be doing it as a camp in Flin Flon the next day. I was amazed that God would give me a warning in my testimony for other’s to hear. So I shared the moth story, I talked about how there are so many lights in the world, and they can all be so attractive. Like an assured career and excellent pay, or fancy toys that you just so happen to be able to afford. I talked about my experiences, declining job offers I was receiving since I was now a rising star in the field of carpentry. I was getting offers like eighteen dollars an hour and amazing benefits. I didn’t even have my level one, but with my experience, I could have a career job by the time I was twenty, be ticketed as a Master Carpenter. But when you walk this earth, there is only one fire that you can go near, that you can walk into and it will not harm your relationship with Father, rather it will do quite the opposite. It will strengthen the relationship and give you passion for the Creator of all things. I knew what God wanted from me for this summer past and for this school year, knew that those fires were not His. I than shared a verse that Paul had written a few years ago, some of you may know him.

Philippians 3:7-16

7I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ 9and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!

12I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be,^[c] but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.^[d]

15I hope all of you who are mature Christians will agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already.

How about that one? I don’t mean to say that a life that is completely focused on following the Fathers lead will make you financially poor, or give you a poor job. I mean to say quite the opposite. I say that if we choose to follow God on the paths that our lives should take according to His will, than you will be blessed and have all that you will ever need. A life of standing in the one true fire, of following and seeking God will be amazing. Like Paul said, “But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.” That will be an amazing day friends. So shall we take a walk, or would you prefer to run the race that lies before us, and remember, some fires do burn, so keep your eyes fixed on the father, the one true fire.