The Israelites are at the temple dedication and a sacrifice and offering have been made. Fire comes from heaven to consume the offering. The fire for the temple sacrifices came from God and was to never go out. God sends the fire on the offering and it is consumed. God is a consuming fire.

Romans 12:1-2 tells us that we’re to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. What would it mean for us, as sacrifices, to be consumed by God’s Holy fire?

It would mean total surrender. Presenting ourselves to God and wanting Him to take our lives, all of it and do with it as He desired. It would mean wanting God to burn away all that is not of Him.

When a fire burns, it’s a conversion of energy. It takes the energy stored up in the fuel and transforms it into light and heat, blessing those around it. That’s a motivation for surrendering your whole life to God and letting Him set you on fire. He can redeem all that stuff in your life that is burdening you now. When His holy fire is on it, He can transform it into things that will bring His light to those around you, His Holy Spirit fire to others.

God is good and His loving kindness is everlasting. God will never be anything but good and loving. That doesn’t mean everyone is saved, but that means He is for His children, and if you have given yourself to Him, you can count on Him loving you, being merciful to you, and being good to you for all time and beyond time.

We want to be consumed of God. I want to no longer live but have Christ alone live in and through me. Me, self, needs to go. There is no good thing in me, but in the fire of God, it can be transformed by His power into a blessing for me and a blessing for those around me.