A FAMOUS French chemist, whom the “Reds” guillotined during the French Revolution, crying in their madness that the Republic had no need of savants, made a very memorable contribution to biology when he affirmed that from a chemical point of view living always means burning.
There is no life without burning. Think of the sun, that great vivifying power, without which the grain in the field would not fructify, nor life be preserved on this planet. It lives through burning. Take the heat of the human body. Without heat there would be no life. Living is burning.
That living is burning is no less true in the spiritual world. Scripture often uses natural illustrations to illustrate spiritual themes. So we find our Lord describing John the Baptist, as “a burning and a shining light” (John 5:3535He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. (John 5:35)). What a life of strenuous service was his! How honored he was! Life is measured rather by service than by years. Sometimes, when a person becomes old, and great care has to be taken, and everything possible done for ease and comfort, you hear the remark, “The patient may last for years, for there is no demand made mentally or physically.” But we can scarcely call this living. It is merely existence.
Take the case of the Apostle Paul. He could write to the Corinthian believers, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you” (2 Cor. 12:1515And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2 Corinthians 12:15)). Here is a wonderful instance of this matter. He was prepared to expend vital and spiritual energy if only he could be a help to them.
We may well challenge ourselves whether we live or merely exist; whether we are living to ourselves, or living for God and for others; living strenuously, for living is burning.
What a living was the Apostle Paul’s I He could say, “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all” (Philippians 2:1717Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. (Philippians 2:17)). He was not a candle wrapped up in tissue paper, and placed on a shelf, but a candle burning, shedding light till it guttered down in its socket. That life has influenced every Christian that ever existed. What a life! Living is burning!
Of course the great example of all is that of our Lord Jesus Christ. What did He not accomplish during that wonderful three and a half years of strenuous service, ending up with the tragedy of the cross; streams of life flowing from that wounded side, every pulsation of divine life for the believer gained by His wonderful poured-out life on the cross! So we read, “Christ loved the Church, and gave HIMSELF for it” (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25)). He could not give more.
With such an example before us, we may well ask, Do we live or do we merely exist? What need on every hand! Our villages are fast becoming pagan, and the population of pagan lands increasing faster than the increase of converts at the mission stations. Cinemas are crowded. Churches are empty. Men “are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:44Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; (2 Timothy 3:4)). May God wake us up from the self-complacency that marks us too much and too often.
A. J. Pollock.