Stir It Up

2 Timothy 1:6

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands

I can remember as a youngster, going camping overnight with my Dad. We had such fun and one of the things that I loved the most about camping was the campfire. I would sit transfixed, gazing into that fire for what seemed like hours. I was fascinated by the sounds, colors and smells that always accompanied a campfire.

After finally going to bed, the very first thing that I did when I woke up the next morning was to run out to the fire and gather dry twigs and branches to rebuild it. I would get a stick and dig around in the ashes until I found what I was looking for, good hot coals. Then I would put the material on the coals and watch as they heated it and soon burst into flames.

I think that is what Paul is encouraging Timothy, and us, to do here. Sometimes in our day to day living, we let the fire and zeal of God’s call and ministry in our lives die down. Often time it goes till there is barely an ember left. It is good for us to do what Paul was saying to do in this scripture. We need to stir up the gifts that we have allowed to burn down and cool off, we need to fan the coals and get the fires of our ministry and relationship flaming again.

Hebrews 2:1addresses the same issue like this, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

We must constantly be on guard against complacency. The fire can burn down and we can let slip that which we know so easily, and either one is detrimental to our Christian health.