Baptized with Fire

By Gobel Brockman


     When I was 19 I worked at a factory in a foundry area. My job was to melt this material called babbitt and pour it into bearings as they spun in a machine. The babbitt had to be melted to 700 degrees Fahrenheit before it was ready for use. I would take a metal ladle, dip it in the babbitt, and pour it into a funnel leading to the inside of the bearing. One night while doing this, I accidentally bumped the ladle against the side of the machine, spilling some of the melted metal. A small portion of the melted metal hit my left foot. It immediately burned through my pant leg, my sock, and all seven layers of my skin. (I hopped around and "danced like no one was watching" for a minute or two!) I didn't go to the clinic (guys don't go to clinics for stuff like that) and to this day I have a nickel-sized scar on my foot.

     I mention this because it reminds me of some interesting words from John the Baptist found in Matthew 3:11:

       "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He (Jesus) who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

     "Baptized with fire." I can tell you that after my experience of dancing around with a hole burned in my foot that the thought of being baptized with fire really doesn't sound all that appealing. There are many directions I could go with this, but this week I only want to focus on one. The babbitt came in gold metal bars that had to be put into a pot and melted. Once the pot reached 700 degrees, an interesting thing happened: all of the dross (the "junk") that was in the babbitt rose to the top, and it looked disgusting. Before I could use the babbitt I had to use another ladle and scrape out all of the dross. But here's the part that was interesting to me: once you got rid of the dross, the babbitt looked like a golden mirror, beautiful and shiny. You could clearly see your reflection when you looked at it.

     Why does God not only want to baptize us with the Holy Ghost, but also with fire? That's a multi-faceted topic, but for this week let's focus on this: we all have a lot of "junk" in our lives. It's called sin. Galatians 5:19-21 describes it this way:

     "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

     One thing that being baptized with "the fire of God" will do is cause those things to come to the surface - which gives God the opportunity to get them out of our lives. The great thing about that is that once that happens, God can begin to look at our lives and see His reflection in us. I Peter 1:7 says this:

       "That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

     Do you feel like you're "going through the fire" right now? If so, don't panic, just let the Holy Ghost baptize you with that fire. I know it's not pleasant, it can indeed be painful, and I know it can bring some ugly stuff up, but it's necessary if we want those ugly things gone. I don't know about you, but the thought of being a reflection of God's character sounds pretty amazing to me.

     As an added bonus, it just may make you "dance like no one's watching" too. Only this dance will be a joyful one that won't leave a scar on your foot.