The other day I was teaching my youngest how to bring water to a boil in order to make macaroni and cheese.  She was standing by the stove waiting for the water to boil and I told her that a ‘watched pot never boils.’  Why did I tell her that? It’s kind of weird saying.  I did a little research and found that it came from many sayings written by Benjamin Franklin.  So, what exactly does it mean? Does it really mean that if you sit and watch water boil that it won’t until you take your eyes off of it?  No, although it certainly seems like it.  What it really means is that when you are waiting for something, time seems to slow down.  

Our family is going on a trip at the end of this month and we are waiting expectantly with excitement.  If between now and then, we were to lazily sit around and do nothing day after day, the coming trip would seem to take forever to get here, but if we get busy with life and resist the temptation to lazily sit around like sloths, the time will go quickly.  We don’t want to be lazy and lukewarm as we wait.

In Christ, it is the same.  We don’t want to be lazy and lukewarm as we are eagerly waiting for His return.  Living for a ‘bucket list’ is lazy and lukewarm living apart from Christ.  Living for doing the right things with hearts far from the Lord is lazy and lukewarm living.  Living for the weekends is lazy and lukewarm living.  Living for anything apart from Christ is lazy and lukewarm living. So, what do we do? We get busy in serving the Lord which we will focus on more next time.  We want to be busy like beavers not lazy like sloths.  We want to fill our lives with Christ and do Romans 12:9-11 which says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,serve the Lord.”

Being fervent in spirit actually means boiling for Christ.  In Christ, there is no room for standing around watching life go by like watching a pot boil. That is lazy and lukewarm living.  We are to fill our lives with Living Water, so that we boil over, fervently living for Him, and serving Him with all our hearts.  We want to boil over in good works, being careful to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. (James 1:22)   Here are some scriptures to unpack what it means to be fervent in spirit or boiling for Christ.

Boil over loving the Lord with all your heart.

Matthew 22:37-39 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Boil over abounding in the Work of the Lord

I Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

Boil over fearing Him, walking in His way, and serving Him.

Deuteronomy 10:12 “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Boil over keeping His commandments, clinging to Him, and serving Him.

Joshua 22:5 “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Boil over trusting the Lord

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Boil over loving one another.

I Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Boil over laying down your life for another as Christ did for us.

Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 15:12-13 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Boil over doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with the Lord.

Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Boil over delighting to do His will.

Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Boil over storing up God’s word in your heart.

Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Boil over seeking Him with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Gwendolyn stepped away from waiting for that pot to boil and lo, and behold the water quickly boiled.  May you step away from waiting for your life to boil.  Get busy with the things of the Lord and you will see your life boiling for Him.

Blessings to you,

Heather

When You Pray….

1. Pray for Yourself that you would be fervent in spirit.
2. Pray the same for your spouse.
3. Pray the same for your children.
4. It’s Thursday, pray for your spouse’s extended family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.