the coming fire

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Ezekiel 10:1-11:25. In this passage, we see an angel use a burning coal to create holiness - to burn up sin and pointless things, and leave only what is good and eternal.

We see this in our lives, too. God often uses fire, both literal and real, to burn away the things that won't survive into eternity. And we see Him teaching us, throughout the Bible and in our lives today, to store our treasures in heaven, where the fire of purification won't destroy them. 

One day we will all pass through that sanctifying fire. In 1 Peter 7, we're told that some of the things we hold onto in life will be burned up in the refining fire, and some things will survive that fire - the pure gold of our faith, for example.

The United States is going through some fire right now, isn't it? And what comes out the other side will hopefully be the good stuff. Let's keep our country in our prayers.

However things turn out for our country, though, we individuals can set aside our treasures in heaven by making sure we are not putting too much value in stuff, and investing instead in people - the only treasures we can literally take to heaven with us.

God, thanks for teaching us to invest in what lasts.