EMBERS AND FLAMES

This was one priced asset in my secondary school days. Many people born in this generation will never know the joy of using this. It was an essential asset in the boarding house, but only a few privileged people had this charcoal iron as students. Because we had to look sharp in our school uniforms, we usually had long lists of people waiting to take their turns to iron their clothes with the few that were available to us. It requires a special skill not to burn your clothes because it does not come with a temperature regulator or thermostat. We also had to deal with the risk of hot ash creating holes in our clothes as it was intermittently let out through the bottom vents.

The heat for the iron came from bits of charcoal placed in the box of the iron and left to burn for a while. It had to burn for a sufficient time so that when the flame was put out the coal still glowed red hot. However, after a while, the glow would wane and the temperature on the contact surface of the iron would drop. In order to increase the temperature again, you have to fan the embers into flame and the cycle repeats. One cycle of fanning is never enough. It has to be continuous, otherwise, the charcoal iron will eventually become like every other cold piece of steel.

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 2 Timothy 1:6

The gifts that God has placed in us as believers are like the bits of charcoal in the iron. If we do not fan them into flame, no matter how gifted we may be, we will pass through the earth and those gifts will remain completely dormant. They will be useless to both us and the people that God intended us to reach with those gifts. It will be like the case of the servant who got one talent and buried it in the ground, waiting for the return of the master.

The gifts of God upon our lives cannot develop themselves. We have to take personal responsibility to nurture them with the help of the Holy Spirit to the extent that the gifts produce fruits thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and a hundred-fold. Personal responsibility comes with personal sacrifice. We start from the personal acknowledgment that we are not empty, but endowed with different gifts that need to be nurtured – and we will give account to God on how the gifts were used while we were here.

Just like the charcoal in the iron needs continuous fanning, these gifts need to be continuously nurtured. It is not a one-off activity. Diligence in nurturing the gifts births excellence and enhances productivity. It places us in a place where God can trust us with more responsibility and in the earthly realms, we will stand before kings.

Do you see a man skillful and experienced in his work? He will stand [in honour] before kings; He will not stand before obscure men. Proverbs 22:29

We cannot get to the point where we say that we have reached the zenith of those gifts. There will always be new unconquered mountains before us. If we do not hone these gifts and talents, we are effectively denying God the opportunity to be glorified from the investment He has made in us…and that is not where we want to be.

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. John 15:8

Introspect. Discover those gifts. Nurture them. Bless people. Glorify God. This is the will of the Father for us.