THE PAPER AND THE FLAME

A Devotional on Holiness and the Nature of Redemption

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who sanctifies us by Your Word and transforms our nature through Your Son.

Imagine a candle and a sheet of paper.

The candle’s flame is pure and unrelenting. The paper is fragile and flammable. If you try to bring them together, the paper will burn. The fire cannot change—it would cease to be fire. But the paper can change. You could soak it in water, laminate it, turn it into something less easily consumed. Only then can it withstand the flame.

This is how holiness works.

God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24). He does not diminish His holiness to make room for our impurity. He cannot change His nature. But we can be changed. And in Messiah, we are.