Here in Sicily, if you are grilling with charcoal, the most common type of charcoal that is used is wood that has been burnt into charcoal that has just been broken up into small pieces. Unfortunately, this often also creates, beyond the larger chunks, a bunch of additional little pieces that, when you put it into the grill, prevents the flow of the air through the charcoal once you have lit the charcoal with fire. Therefore, instead of the air flowing through the fire, as you might think if you were to have larger chunks such as with charcoal briquettes, the air is stopped and the fire must be continually stoked by blowing or fanning additional air into the flame burning within the charcoal.
The result is that you typically have the person who is starting the fire in the grill standing over the charcoal, fanning it with a paper plate or some other instrument, hoping to keep the fire going enough to heat the charcoal to a white hot fire, enough to grill the meat that they have sitting nearby.
I was reminded of this picture in my mind as I read Paul’s admonition to Timothy:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:6-7
Paul had called Timothy to come and travel with him on his second missionary journey through Lystra, but now, as he is writing Timothy this letter, he finds himself in prison. He will soon be executed and he is writing back to Timothy, who is serving in Ephesus, to encourage him to keep going. Paul wants Timothy to be bold, to preach the Gospel, to not be ashamed, and to carry on what he had originally learned from Paul.
Paul had laid his hands upon Timothy to impart to him both the gift of the Holy Spirit as well as the gift to continue as an evangelist so that others might hear. So now, Paul wants Timothy to continue to live deeply in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, living so that others might hear.
Paul calls Timothy to suffer. He calls Timothy to live the life of Christ, to live for Christ. This is Paul’s desire for Timothy, that he would continue to fan the flame of Christ that was put within him so that it would burn bright, burn hot, and he would be full of passion for the Gospel.
For each of us, there are times that we must do the same. We must fan the flame that was placed within us through prayer and through reading the Word of God.
And also we must go and do. We must intentionally do what the Word says. That which we have read, that which we have heard through the Word and in prayer, we must go and do.
By combining these things, by praying and listening to the Word, and then by doing, we see God powerfully work both within us and through us. We see the reality of the Word of God come alive. That which is smoldering under the surface comes alive as a flame and burns within us.
Often, to see that which is smoldering within us burst into flame, we must go beyond our fear. We are frequently timid. We often shy away.
But we must look beyond our fear to the one who has called us, and the one who walks with us. Jesus himself says that he will go with us. He is the one who has the power. He is the one to whom we must listen. And by doing so, both in the quiet moments as well as in the moments that we must overcome our fear and be bold, we also can fan into flame the gift that God has given to us, just as Paul called Timothy to do.