Fire in my heart

Last week I spent time meditating on a verse in Jeremiah 20. Here’s the passage:

“O Lord, you seduced me and I was seduced;

you overpowered me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long;

everyone mocks me.

Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But, if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,”

HIS WORD IS IN MY HEART LIKE A FIRE,

A FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES.

I AM WEARY OF HOLDING IT IN;

INDEED, I CANNOT.

I love the imagery of the word of God being a fire inside of me that I cannot hold inside. I love the IDEA of it, but sometimes that’s not reality. I wish God’s word was a fire that I cannot hold in when I’m talking with my neighbor, Chris, who desperately needs the Lord in his life. I wish it was an uncontrollable fire in my bones when I’m at a high school for lunch, talking with students who don’t know Jesus. I feel it when I’m alone, if only when I was with other people.

What is the word of God like to you? Is it a fire that you cannot hold inside?