Smoking Flax

What should a Christian do when they feel like their spiritual fire has gone out? A bible verse I often come back to when I’m struggling is Matthew 12:20. This is a verse that is a description of Jesus. It says this – ‘A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench’ (Matt 12:20 KJV). The word ‘Flax’ here is literally linon in the Greek and this word refers to anything made of flax. Flax is a fibre that comes from the flax plant which we use to make things like linen curtains or tablecloths, but flax is also used for a wick in a lamp or candle. So, coming back to our bible verse, a smoking flax is referring to a wick that is smouldering and just about to go out. This verse reminds us that Jesus does not let a believer’s spiritual fire die even when we feel bruised, weak, and at our lowest – he will not quench the smoking flax.

Sometimes a Christian can feel like an ember in a fire that is fading, rather than a fire that is alive and raging. Sometimes God’s people feel incapable of doing anything great for God. We long to be part of a spiritual wildfire that fires us up, and spreads to impact the many people around us, but often we feel like our spiritual fire has been put out.

But then I remember something really basic – If I want to start a big fire, I need to start a small fire. It’s hard to rekindle an ember with big logs, it’s hard to rekindle an ember even with kindling. To get that ember to refire, someone needs to start using tinder. They need to start with something tiny to fuel the fire, and it is the same for us spiritually. We need to start with small spiritual tinder to start our spiritual fire. The spiritual tinder of daily talking to God in prayer, the spiritual tinder of getting alone with God to daily listening to him as we read our bible, and the daily spiritual tinder of starting to obey in the small unseen areas of our lives. These seemingly small disciplines are the daily fuel that sparks a spiritual fire.

I’ve found it so helpful when people ask me the simplest of questions like– “How is your prayer life going? How is your bible reading going? How are you doing spiritually?”. It’s in these moments I start to realise I’ve forgotten to do the most important things for my spiritual health.

A old preacher called Charles Spurgeon once said, “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” Does our bible need to get a bit more worn out through daily reading?

A lady called Corrie Ten Boom once said this about prayer – “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?”. That’s a challenging question isn’t it. Do we need to start making prayer our daily steering wheel that keeps us on the right track?

And listen to what the bible says about obedience to God – ‘Walk as children of light… and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.’ Ephesians 5:8-10. Have we forgotten that obedience is not just about obeying rules, it’s about working out each day what pleases the Lord who has loved us so much he came into this world to live for us, die for us, and rise for us, to give us new life.

If we long to see God do something great, we need to start with these small things, and then let’s see what big things God starts to do in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

‘For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you’ 2 Timothy 1:6