Christ’s Death Has Disarmed The Brush Fire

A duck hunter was with a friend in the wide-open land of southeastern Georgia. Far away on the horizon he noticed a cloud of smoke. Soon he could hear crackling as the wind shifted. He realized the terrible truth; a brush fire was advancing, so fast they couldn’t outrun it. Rifling through his pockets, he soon found what he was looking for-a book of matches. He lit a small fire around the two of them. Soon they were standing in a circle of blackened earth, waiting for the fire to come. They didn’t have to wait long. They covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and braced themselves. The fire came near and swept over them. But they were completely unhurt, untouched. Fire would not pass where fire already had passed. The law is like a brush fire. I cannot escape it. But if I stand in the burned-over place, not a hair of my head will be singed. Christ’s death has disarmed it. (Adapted from Who Will Deliver Us? by Paul F. M. Zahl).