Individuals may build them to fulfill varied purposes. Sometimes fires are built solely for warmth, or perhaps to burn brush to clear off land. Elsewhere, you may find people gathered around a campfire, telling stories and roasting marshmallows.
Regardless of the fire’s intended design, some basic ingredients are needed before it can properly burn. Air, fuel, and someone to tend it are all necessary composites.
We have a wood burner in our home that is used in the coldest part of the winter to supplement our furnace. My husband and I assume the responsibility of being the ones that tend the fires, laying the proper kindling and making sure that enough fuel is added to keep it burning steadily. We also are the ones that clean the stove and stovepipe, to ensure safety.
Fire can be a comfort, and bring warmth if handled correctly. It can also be extremely dangerous if allowed to burn out of control, and isn’t treated with the proper respect it deserves.
Recently, my sister and I went on a camping trip. We decided to build a small campfire in the pit outside our cabin one night to roast marshmallows over. Her eight-year-old son seemed mesmerized by the flames, and she repeatedly had to tell him to back away from the pit. The next morning he was found, lighter in hand, standing by the pit, trying to relight the fire. Fortunately, he was caught in time, and disciplined, before he brought injury upon himself or someone else.
God, in His Wisdom, created man and woman with emotions and desires. One of those desires is based upon the very human sexual needs that God instilled in us. However, He also formed us to fulfill these urges with a lifelong partner, and in a monogamous relationship, built on commitment and a strong love.
Hebrews Chapter 13, verse 4 states: Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
God has ordained the sacred relationship of marriage in order to guard against sexual immorality. Undefiled contains more than an approval of that conjugal relationship, it also entails the married couples’ responsibility to preserve their intimacy from the perverse and debasing practices of a lewd society.
When the sexual desires that the Lord has given us are not honored by a marital relationship, and are instead used in a casual manner, it can bring nothing but pain. The only “safe sex” is sex such as the Lord intended, between a husband and wife.
Many young people make the mistake of giving their hearts and bodies to someone that is undeserving of either, and end up paying horrible prices. A young girl that I am very close to recently made some very unwise choices in this matter, and is now attempting to recover from the destruction that it has wrought upon her life.
Don’t let the fire the Lord created within you burn recklessly. Make sure you tend it well, and exercise it in the manner the Lord intended it to be used. A fire that rages out of control is one that will ultimately leave you in pain. Use caution, use Godly Wisdom, and don’t get burned.
Copyright 2003
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Mary, this is so right on, and so necessary - not only for the young and not only for those who do not know the Lord Jesus. Thank you for your good and straight words -- great job!
Debbie
Good job, Mary! Such a needed message in our world today! My husband does health and AIDS awareness seminars here in AFrica and also talks about how to have healthy relationships. God help us get the message to the young generation before they too are caught up in the horrors that so much of the AFrican population faces today! AMEN!
