Subject: A Very Stong Message
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services
regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the
pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The
pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him
to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself
comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated
the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes,
the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning
ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he
sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in
quiet fascination. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there
was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold
and dead as a doornail." Not a word had been spoken since the initial
greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up
the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire.
Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the
burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave,
his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the
fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."
If you can relate to the host, you can also relate to the ember. Don't
let yourself stray or be enticed away from your source of Life and Power.
The Bible instructs us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together
to worship God and encourage one another as the day of redemption gets
closer (Hebrews 10:25).
If you can't relate to the host perhaps you know someone who can, so
please pass this on to them (Galatians 6:1-2).
God Bless You!