For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (II Timothy 1:6-7)
Yesterday we discussed the nature
of the gift that Paul described, so today we’re going to consider Paul’s
instruction to Timothy: fanning the flame of that gift in a way that produces
power, love, and self-discipline.
Power is “the ability to do
something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality.” We
tend to think of power as power over or control over others. Presidents
and dictators have power. But that’s grandiose thinking. Instead, consider what
you have the power to do. You may have the power to read, write, vote, express your opinion, do the dishes, or stand in front of a group of people
and speak or sing. You likely have the power to get out of bed in the morning or order a pizza delivered. For God to give you power likely has nothing to do
with your whim being the command of the nations and everything to do with your
being able to pray for someone.
The second characteristic of
the gift is love. God’s gift to you involves your spending time with others,
encouraging others, giving gifts to others, serving others, hugging them, or
putting a hand on their shoulder. The gift involves your seeking what is in
their best interests.
The third piece of the gift
that God gives through His Spirit is self-discipline. I have two ideas to
illustrate it. The first is that it’s the opposite of power. Power is the
ability TO DO. Self-discipline is the ability NOT TO DO. The other idea is that
of potty training, the goal of which is to teach the child what to do instead
of messing his/her pants, and (to a less obvious extent, perhaps) how to
respond when one does mess one’s pants.
Putting that together, the
Spirit God gives us makes us able to do and not do, centered on the
motivation for both doing and not doing: the best interest of all concerned. So,
how do we fan the flames of that gift? What does “fan the flames” even mean?
According to the University
of Washington, fire requires four components: something to burn (fuel), an oxidizing
agent (oxygen), heat (the spark to start the fire), and propagation (something beyond
the initial fuel to keep it going. Without this, the fire goes out. The Spirit
is the flame or spark that starts the fire, but the Spirit is also the fire.
Fanning the Spirit then would involve providing it with the “oxygen” it needs.
Again, ideas come to mind.
Since Paul mentions the ability to do, love, and ability not to do, willingness to
do, to love, and to not do could be fanning the flame. Another way to say that
is that obedience is fanning the flame. Obedience is an act of love, faith, and
hope, so they could be what fans the flame. I could be entirely off base, but
it is at least food for thought.
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