Through the lens of Young adult
Aaron's ordination and Nadab and Abihu
Most of us aren’t tempted to walk away from God. We are tempted to remix Him. To take pieces of who He is and recombine them with what we’d prefer Him to be.
A God who approves of everything we want. A God who is mostly there to make us feel better. A God we have stripped of everything difficult — judgment, holiness, the cost of His nearness — and kept only the parts that are easy to live with.
That is strange fire. Aaron’s sons did not reject God. They mixed Him with what they preferred. They innovated. And the fire that fell consumed them.
You will be tempted to do this in your twenties more than at any other age. The cultural pressure on you is enormous. Mix Him with politics. Mix Him with self-help. Mix Him with whatever your tribe wants Him to be. Resist the remix.
The good news: Christ has gone in once for all, without any strange fire, perfectly. You don’t have to construct your own way to the Father. The way is open. Walk through the way that has been opened — not the one you would have designed.
One small thing today: name one place where you have been remixing God to fit your preferences. Sit with the actual Scripture. Let Him be who He says He is. Let the strange fire go out.