WHEN FIRE LOOKS LIKE EXTREMISM

WHEN FIRE LOOKS LIKE EXTREMISM

The world has always mistaken holy fire
for dangerous excess.

The prophets stood where comfort ended.
Noah built while others laughed.
Moses confronted an empire.
Elijah faced a nation that had learned
to worship convenience.
Jeremiah wept where others celebrated.
John the Baptist cried out
from a wilderness no one wished to enter.
And Christ Himself carried a cross
that appeared unreasonable
to a generation content with compromise.

The flame has never looked ordinary
to eyes accustomed to lukewarmness.

There is a quiet temptation
that rarely announces itself as rebellion.
It asks only for moderation
where God has called for faithfulness,
for silence
where truth must speak,
for comfort
where love must sacrifice.

Lukewarmness does not always deny the light.
It simply refuses to burn.

The Kingdom has never advanced
through hearts that calculated
how little obedience would suffice.
It has been carried
by men and women
who counted the cost,
yet loved the Giver
more than the gifts.

The world often calls such lives
extreme,
impractical,
or radical.

Yet Heaven measures differently.

For what appears radical
to a conscience lulled to sleep
may simply be
the ordinary temperature
of a heart
fully alive to God.

The greatest scandal of discipleship
is not that faithful believers
appear too passionate.

It is that the Church
can become so accustomed
to comfortable faith
that simple obedience
begins to look extraordinary.

Therefore let the soul seek
not the applause of moderation,
but the approval of Christ.

For when the final books are opened,
the question will never be
whether we appeared reasonable
to a lukewarm age,

but whether we remained faithful
to the One
whose love was never lukewarm,
whose cross was never convenient,
and whose truth
still burns with eternal fire.

*Revelation 3:15-16

Pastor Steven G. Lee
St. GMC Corps
August 1, 2026