Extinguishing the Flame

August 12th to 20th

France

Don’t extinguish the flame that burns within you!

“But I have a reproach for you: you no longer love me as you did in the beginning.”(Revelation 2:4)

And there you have it! The flame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been extinguished! For the past few days, the eyes of the world have been riveted on this standard. And even though we knew from the start that this flame would be extinguished, it may have saddened or disappointed us. But what about our inner flame? The one that burned within us for Jesus at the beginning of our life journey with him? Are we going to let that flame go out? How can we rekindle and nurture it, so as to remain permanently in the divine warmth?

In Revelation chapter 2, Jesus dictates words to John for today’s church in Asia (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira). Ephesus presented unique challenges for a follower of Christ, as it was home to the cult of the emperor and the worship of the Greek goddess Artemis (Acts 19:23-40). As a result of these influences, the Ephesian believers had developed a great discernment of false teachers and heresy. So Jesus commended them for this discernment, but also rebuked them for having lost their “first love”. As when the flame was still burning brightly in their hearts.

Here Jesus invites us never to extinguish what burns within us for God, and warns us: “But what I have against you is that you have abandoned your first love.” v.4. What a terrible and damning statement!  In certain circumstances we have to admit that we put Him aside, and we don’t love Him enough, no longer enough. The zeal and ardor that burned within us is extinguished, and we are plunged into darkness and its consequences: temptation, lukewarmness, sin! Then we’re given over to the darkest inclinations of our humanity: anger, envy, jealousy, pride, lust… We lie to ourselves, to others and to God.

But Jesus calls us to speak the truth with love in the face of the challenges we face today (Ephesians 4:15), and not to let the frustration of false teaching get the better of the love of Christ in us (Ephesians 4:31-32). Our first love is the love Christ gives us for God and for one another. We must be zealous for the truth, but this zeal must be tempered so that we “always speak the truth with love; we will grow up in all things to Him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

Let us renew our love for God, for God first loved us (1 John 4:19). He loves us and desires to receive all our love in return, a love that is whole and ablaze. Let’s rekindle the flame of our 1st love for the faithful and miraculous God who lives within us.

Specific prayer: Lord, we pray to you for all those whose inner flame is extinguished or flickering. We recognize that this can happen to any Christian. You know all the circumstances that can lead to this situation: trials, weariness, betrayals, manipulations… Lord, act in us to forgive and continue to love one another and love you ever more ardently!

Personal introduction : Fred Menigoz is co-director of Grain de Blé France since 2012, prison chaplain since 2008 and athlete chaplain for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, president of Go+France, the Christian sports movement in France. Married to Marie, with 3 children, they live in La Rochelle.