A Gospel-Saturated Life
Luke 24:32-35 – They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.
Several years ago I was helping clean up brush, weeds, and limbs from the property around our house. In collecting the debris, we were planning to have a fire in order to burn the remnants and get rid of the yard waste around the house. As we mounded the debris up, it became apparent that we were going to need help igniting the brush pile. So we gathered our tools and headed into town to purchase five gallons of kerosene to aid in the igniting of the pile. As we arrived home we scurried over to the pile and saturated it with the kerosene, but there was a problem; we did not have any way to ignite the pile of debris. We had forgotten to get matches. There was the pile of lawn waste waiting to be ignited, saturated with a burning agent, but no true fire was present.
A gospel saturated life is like that pile of lawn waste that was soaked with proper liquid for igniting, but there was no fire. Many times individuals in the church are saturated, but not ignited. People can be saturated with knowledge. They can know about God and about the bible, but never be on fire. People can be soaked in habit. They can perform good deeds, act morally, and attend every church service and never be on fire. People can be dripping with tradition. They can know when to stand and when to sit in the services. They can know the first, second, and last stanza of every hymn and never be fire. Anyone can become saturated and never become ignited by Christ.
Here in this passage the men on the Emmaus Road knew a lot about Christ. They knew the stories and had seen Jesus perform mighty works. They knew of His prophecy to rise again. They were saturated. Then, all of the sudden, Jesus showed up and ignited their saturation. No longer were they damp wicks, but now their hearts burned with desire because Jesus had ignited them.
Today, we must never become the undesired gospel saturated people. A people full of knowledge about Jesus and about the bible, but a people unignited for Christ. Rather, we must seek to constantly be on fire for Christ. Our saturation must be ignited and burning with zeal and passion for Christ. Is the wick in your lamp saturated with oil, has the Master ignited it?
