Get a Fire Extinguisher

Most of us have some form of enthusiasm in our lives. But have you ever really, really, really been excited about something? Maybe it was a game you were watching. You’ve seen the commercials. Guys are watching a game and they all jump up off the couch at the same time cheering and screaming. We assume that a goal was scored. Then they belly bounce off of each other and the one guy starts smelling the shirt of the other guy. - you had to be there I guess. That’s excitement.
Or how about the lady taking possession of a new car. Forget the salespersons demonstration - lets get going. New mothers have a subdued excitement at the birth of their child. After carrying this child for nine months, three day, eleven hours, you can see the excitement in their eyes as they look into this precious face for the first time.
We also get excited about going on vacation. The car is packed, everyone has made one last trip to the bathroom and you are one block from home. If it wasn’t for seatbelts, those to munchkins in the back seat would be bouncing off the ceiling. Then, a small voice comes from the back seat, “Are we there yet?”
Okay, now it’s your turn. What excites you? What are you enthusiastic about? Most of you have already thought of what would get you excited. Really excited. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said; “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” The things that excite us are as varied as we are. Some get excited about the small things while others have grandiose expectations. No matter, there is always something that will set each of us off and we like to see it happen more then once. More then once a week would be good.
I wonder how many of us get excited about going to Church? Of coming into the sanctuary of God and worshiping Him. Of joining with each other in prayer and song, as we close our eyes and look full into the face of God. Emerson also wrote; “Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm.” A few times in my career I have preached on that word, Enthusiasm. It is a Greek word that breaks down into a few parts. En Theos, which literally means, Excitement in God. In the dictionary it tells us that it originally meant inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a god.
Just read something a few minutes ago that went something like this; the best place to have a fire extinguisher is in the church because we need to be on fire for Him. Maybe that is what we are missing in many of our churches. This Sunday, show up excited and look for the nearest fire extinguisher.
Something to think about.
Robin