Out of the Flames

The very first time my name appeared in print was in a news story, a mere couple of paragraphs long, in my hometown newspaper. The account tells of a twenty-month old treated at a local hospital for burns sustained after falling into a barbecue grill.

Yep. Even at a young age I was a bit of a drama queen, terrifically clumsy, and intent upon drawing attention to myself.

It seems I’d been scooting around my parents’ porch on some kind of toddler bike. My dad was grilling hamburgers at the foot of the porch stairs, a safety gate stretched between us. When Dad opened the gate to take the burgers into the house I made my move, down the stairs and into a hot charcoal grill. My dad scooped me up out of the flames and carried me to the local hospital which was just a few blocks from our home.

There are reasons I look the way I do.

Family legend has it that the nursing staff were all quite impressed with my ability to perform Bend and Stretch, Reach for the Sky, which I had learned from watching Romper Room with Miss Nancy on the TV. If only I’d had a feather boa back then.

Everything I have accomplished since that day, I owe to my dad’s quick response: running, however poorly, on my high school track team; graduating from college; marrying the beloved Swede; raising my children; typing out sentences here. Had my dad not reached in to pull me from the flames, I would not have been able to do any of these things.

As a follower of Christ, I often wonder whether or not my efforts amount to anything. I fail, miserably and often, to do the things I want to or think I should. I’ve endured my seasons of doubt, wondering about the genuineness of my faith; questioning whether or not it was real or just some act on my part. And I know I have an enemy of my soul who amplifies my doubts. He accuses me, most often in the middle of the night, of my unworthiness to claim any connection to Christ.

Last night my pastor preached about the idea of assurance—how a believer can be confident that he or she belongs to Jesus. He began by reading from the Old Testament:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” Zechariah 3:1-4, ESV

If I am looking to my efforts as proof that I belong to Christ, I will never be convinced of my worthiness. My assurance is rooted in Christ’s rescue. Had he not reached down to pluck me from fire, removed my sin, and clothed me in his righteousness, I would have been completely unable to accomplish anything pleasing to God. Whatever good things I may have done; in whatever small measure I have loved others, my actions are but a feeble response to the One who first loved me.

Assurance is rooted in the gospel, in believing in God’s rescue of me through Christ. Good work is the fruit of the gospel, evidence that new life is flowing through me. The fruit of my efforts may appear pathetic and shriveled at times, but the tiniest berry is evidence that God is at work in me.

And God gives his Spirit, during seasons of doubt, to whisper to mine that I belong to him. Through his presence, I enjoy a down payment of what it will be like to enjoy eternal communion with Father, Son, and Spirit. In his presence I will dance and sing with all the others rescued from the flame.

Perhaps I’ll even lead them in a rousing rendition of Bend and Stretch.

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. I John 3:19-23, ESV

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