Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22, NIV)
In the courtyard of Singapore’s Hindu fire-walking temple amid heavy odors of burning incense and the pulsating rhythm of the drums, devout worshipers paraded about with huge gaudily painted wooden idols. Others, carrying heavy frames supported by needles inserted in their flesh, danced wildly in circles to the piercing tune of the flutes and the beat of hollow wooden drums. Groups of wild-eyed followers cheered the men who were to walk through the fire.
All day long piles of burning wood burned to red-hot coals. Men then raked them into a pit 10 feet wide, 25 feet long, and about one foot deep . At the end of this pit of red-hot colas was a smaller pit containing scared cow’s milk. All day long a continuous stream of devoted worshipers stopped to empty bottles of milk as an offering to the gods. Eager for understanding rather than ridicule, Mr. Ratnam, a tax collector for the government, told us, “Just as you Christian ask your God’s forgiveness and have faith that He can do it, so as we Hindus ask our gods and goddesses to forgive our mistakes, and we show our sincerity by running through the fire.”
Swarming crowds of spectators jammed the temple. The fire-walkers swooned in a trance at the end of the pit. The crowds went wild as the first devotee dashed through the red-hot coals. One by one the glassy-eyed men and boys made their way across the pit – sprinting, leaping, dancing, or plodding through the sizzling coals. Not one fire-walker had burned feet.
They were sincere and devoted but deluded people. As my heart ached for them, I felt like climbing up on the temple roof and shouting, “You don’t need to do this! There is a better way – Jesus, God’s gift of love.” Through faith in Jesus you and I are “set free from sin…, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Think of it: “For it is by his grace you are saved through trusting him; it is not your own doing. It is God’s gift” (Eph. 2:8, NEB). Thank God for that “gift”! Jesus, God’s gift, is the good news that we can receive salvation, not by walking on hot coals, but by faith in Him.
Daniel R. Guild,
from The Best News Ever, page 237
