Tag: judgment on sin
Sin’s destructive fire!
Scripture reading for September 12th: Amos 1-2
Fire is a devastating force when not properly controlled and utilized. I was a young and had started farming with a small hog herd and had about 25 sows (mother hogs) with their babies in a building. It was winter time and we were using heat lamps and furnaces to keep the hog building warm. One of the lamps must have fallen onto the straw, and a blaze erupted that swept through the building. While helping my uncle shell corn, I remember hearing the call to come home from my distraught aunt. “There’s a fire in the hog house!” I arrived home to find a flaming building and some charred animals!
Amos was a fig (not pig!) farmer and shepherd who was called to be a prophet. (Amos 7:14-15) The reading today contains several warnings of “fire in the house!” These warning were to nations and peoples surrounding Israel. I imagine God’s people were cheering as their wicked neighbors were warned by God. (Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 14; Amos 2:2) God is no respecter of persons and Amos also warned Judah and Israel that they also had fire coming to their houses as well! (Amos 2:4-16)
Sin brings God’s wrath and fiery judgment. God hates sin because it is totally foreign to His nature of love. Sin brings destruction, anguish, and great eternal loss to those made to enjoy His blessing and glory! But our God is very merciful! He always warns His people of their sins and provides a way of escape for them. (1 Corinthians 10:13) He wants no one to perish but all to come to repentance and deliverance. (Amos 3:7)
Our nation is saturated with the gospel! We have more churches, preachers, and radio and television preaching than anywhere else in the world. The gospel warns people that there is ‘fire in their house’ and provides a Savior who took the fiery wrath of God against our sin. The gospel offers us a new form of fire in our house, the precious Holy Spirit! This ‘fire’ is redemptive and empowering to the humble and teachable. It gives us power to live free from sin and to warn those who have the wrong kind of fire. Take time today to thank the Lord for His mercy and His wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit!