A story in the Bible that helps me stay sane when I need all the help I can get is the story of the burning bush. After Moses has killed an Egyptian man and run away into the wilderness, God finds him and speaks to him and puts a claim on his life. God gives Moses a mission to go back to Egypt and set God’s people free, and he does so through a bush that was on fire, but did not burn up (Ex. 3:2). In the words of the King James, it was alight, but “not consumed.”
I think about this image often, not just as a pastor, but also as a father, a husband, an only child trying to take care of my only parent, a friend, and a person of faith. What do I need to keep the fire burning brightly without burning up or burning out? How can I be a light without being consumed? As I once heard another pastor say, “We’re called to be living witnesses, not burnt offerings,” but that’s easier said than done.
Ways to avoid becoming a ‘burnt offering’
Step 1
I don’t carry the light; the light carries me. I’m not drawing on myself to keep the fires burning. I’m drawing on God.
My first step to staying alight without being consumed is to remember that rest is God’s work, too. A wood stove will keep burning for several hours through the night if you set the vents right. The campfire next to which you fall asleep can still be hot enough when you wake up to start a fire for breakfast without needing a new match. So too, God’s fire in our lives will keep burning when we need rest. It is trustworthy. It has a life of its own beyond our limitations. It can hold the gaps that emerge when we feel like we’re stretched too thin.
Step 2
My second step to staying alight without being consumed is to remember that rest is an active verb. It’s like kids in the swimming pool learning how to float instead of thrashing around in a panic or treading water to the point of exhaustion. You still have to breathe in deep enough to keep from sinking, but taking a deeper breath lets the water do the lifting while your arms and legs relax. That’s what it feels like to step away from my phone and go outside or to stop doing chores so I can play with my kids. I’m taking a moment to let God do the lifting. I’m taking a moment to let God be God.
Zoning out and scrolling our feeds is not the same kind of rest. The corporate attitude of Netflix, for example, is that their biggest competitor is sleep. There’s nothing bad in itself about watching TV or being online, but by itself, it’s not the rest we need to keep our fires burning. If that’s all the rest we have, we’re simply being consumed in a different way.
Step 3
My third step to staying alight without being consumed is to remember that I don’t carry the light; the light carries me. I’m not drawing on myself to keep the fires burning. I’m drawing on God. That is what makes someone a burning bush, or a living witness. It’s what opens the door of a house to a stranger or makes room at a table for one more. When we draw on God as fuel for the fire and keep enough breath in our lungs to let him do the lifting, it gives more than it takes. It leaves us better than it finds us. It keeps us burning brighter and brighter without burning up and without burning out, and it turns the life we share into holy ground.
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Rev. John Harrison is the pastor of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church in Sautee Nacoochee. Born and raised in Georgia, he went to seminary in Texas and served for 8 years as a pastor in Missouri before moving back home. He is married with two daughters and enjoys coffee, movies and spending time outdoors.
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