In the song "House in Flames" we are presented  with three domestic situations that scream, "The House is on Fire!" The first is that of a fourteen year old girl deciding to have an abortion. The second is that of another young girl left in a coma after a deadly mix of drugs and alcohol. The last is that of a young man who follows the footsteps of his own father into the world of drug addiction. Surely the House is in flames!

 

The bridge of the song cries out: "Why do we wait until the house is on fire? To call on God...To stop and pray...look around you, See the flames burning higher...Give your life to Jesus Christ today."

To cry out the word "Fire" in a public place is absolutely against the law unless, of course, the place is actually on fire. So, lets look around, is the place on fire, or is it not?

 

 First, on the geo-political scene it must be admitted that the house is on fire. Jesus clearly warned that there would be wars and rumors of wars and that nation would rise against nation. It is happening right before our eyes. Not since the "Cold War" has there been such a threat of nuclear proliferation. As rogue nations develop technologies to threaten and manipulate their regions, we all must realize that the house is on fire.

 

The Middle East problem is nowhere near any visible solution. The tensions grow stronger everyday. Where are the answers for the millennia of hatred? Again, the house is on fire!

 

Now to the West, what do you see? The western nations are using the limited resources of our already overtaxed planet at an alarming rate. Pouring tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each and every day should give us pause but it doesn't seem to phase us. Let scientists predict what they will; we continue to pollute and selfishly destroy the ecosystem to appease our lusts. This too screams the house is on fire!

 

Closer to home, what about our domestic policies? We are a nation divided. There is no consensus. There is no mandate for anything and there hasn't been for years. We can't figure out whether we need God or we don't. Certainly, when the Twin Towers came down, we were ready to pray. We were even willing to pray. As I remember, right out on the steps of our nations capital, but that was then and this is now. We're not even sure someone should be allowed to say "Merry Christmas!" How quickly we forget.

 

But get real, where are the answers to the real problems here at home? What about illegal immigration, the homeless, the jobless, the hungry, the elderly, the schools, the violence, the drugs, the apathy, the lack of confidence in any authority? This too screams out the house is on fire!

 

What about our families? Nearly half the kids in America grow up in broken homes. Single parents doing their best to raise kids, watch as their kids drop out and fall through the cracks of their overly fragmented worlds. Gang activity threatens nearly every community. Drive by shootings and gang related murders are a part of most local news broadcasts. What of the kids in the inner-city schools that are more like war zones than places of learning? What about the kids who spend most of their time alone watching TV, playing video games or surfing the internet? Whatever happened to the American dream? With missing children on milk cartons and predators on the internet surely the dream has become a nightmare! The house is on fire!

 

Now what about the individual? Would to God that there were someone to blame. Would to God that that we could escape our responsibility for all that is wrong, but how can we? The simple fact is, the problem is within us. Jeremiah 17:9 says: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? The root of every ill that I have written about is in the heart of man. We are on fire with our lusts and desires. there is no limit to our greed and selfishness. Our idolatry is served without any thought given to the needs of others. Our materialism consumes us and our families. We buy and buy and buy trying to satisfy our lusts, but there is no satisfaction. "Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." (Prov. 27:20)

 

But beyond material things, look at our lust for attention, for celebrity, for honor, and for esteem. Our pride craves the respect and admiration of our peers. Always projecting our image of success and prosperity we pretend to be what others want us to be. We are always presenting a front. Even in the church, perhaps especially in the church, we put on masks to disguise the truth within. God forbid we should be desperate sinners who need God to save us. God forbid we should be despised "lepers" that have to push through the crowd and ask for the help of Jesus. No, unfortunately, too often I'm afraid we've become like the Pharisee who prayed:

 

God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as the publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. When we should be like the publican who would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:11-13)

 

Oh friends the fires that burn within the human breast! The fires of doubt and unbelief, jealousy, fear, worry, self-pity, depression, anger, rage, impurity, covetousness,- the list goes on and on. It is a wonder that fire doesn't break out and consume us. On second thought, perhaps the truth is that is exactly what it does. The house is on fire and surely it is the  fire of hell.

 

So what is the answer? Would I have you despair? Not at all. The answer is still and always will be JESUS. What does the Word say: Isaiah 66:2...but to this man will I look, even to him that poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Is there any voice anywhere calling us to this brokenness? Is there a voice anywhere asking us to repent and to take up our cross and follow Jesus? Yes, yes there is a voice. I hear the voice. It is the still sweet voice of Jesus crying, "Come follow Me." Can you hear it? Oh, in this noisy, over stimulated age in which we live, can you hear it? There truly is a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11) But He is still calling.

 

Friends, the house is on fire! How long till we feel the flames? Surely we must run to Jesus. He is our only Hope!

    

"House in Flames" by Kim Josephson, Norman Ok.