For years people had been told what they must do and not do to please God. When John comes on the scene with his two cents worth, people in that age old mindset know no other way to respond than, ‘what must we do’? John, as he represents the end of the law, and he too knowing no other way to respond, answers accordingly; ‘you should do this and you should not do that’.
But he is at least aware and wastes no time in pointing out that there is one coming that has much more. As the law had become an unbearable weight that man did not have the nature to live by, the One coming would put within them a new nature out of which would naturally flow the conduct which the law was intended to produce.
The One coming would put within them the Holy Spirit—the nature of God Himself. This new nature is like any other new birth and will grow as it is fed. It has the potential, if fed enough, to be like a fire that not only burns out the old nature but also burns in the new. It can also be fed too little and burn relatively nothing.
As with any fire, the size depends directly on how much it is fed. Is your fire all but out because you seldom add wood to it? Do you add a stick now and then just to keep it going? Do you add often to keep it ‘rippin’?
There is no substitute for personal time with God. The occasional or even regular stick of church attendance is not enough. It might keep your fire going, but it will not ‘rip’ as it could.
Hunger and Thirst 