"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What does it mean to have a passion for God? What does it mean to be passionate for the things of Christ?
The first thing I think of is something akin to an emotional frenzy. Being whipped up into a religious fervor and maintaining that state indefinitely.
The first thing I think of is something akin to an emotional frenzy. Being whipped up into a religious fervor and maintaining that state indefinitely.
And believe me, I don't mean that in a bad way. I of all people know I need a good kick in the pants.
Being "on fire" in this way and so fulfilling God's call to love and service is something I desire in my life. It is something that I have experienced at points. It is the mountaintop from whose vantage point everything else seems but a lowly valley.
But I'm not certain it can be there all the time with the same intensity.
Plus, I have a suspicion that real passion is deeper than that, anyway.
So if passion for God isn't just emotional energy, what more is it? What is it in the quiet times, the in-between times?
It is probably a lot of things. Mostly, I think it is a steady march in the same direction. A deep seated commitment and trust that carries with it a depth of emotional feeling and so much more. A trust that pushes through, no matter the cost and no matter what I'm feeling.
Whenever I think that passion is just an emotion--I need to stop and think about Christ's Passion. For Jesus, it was a time of the deepest depth of emotion, but all the same it was a slow and steady journey to fu
lfill His purpose.
So if passion for God isn't just emotional energy, what more is it? What is it in the quiet times, the in-between times?
It is probably a lot of things. Mostly, I think it is a steady march in the same direction. A deep seated commitment and trust that carries with it a depth of emotional feeling and so much more. A trust that pushes through, no matter the cost and no matter what I'm feeling.
Whenever I think that passion is just an emotion--I need to stop and think about Christ's Passion. For Jesus, it was a time of the deepest depth of emotion, but all the same it was a slow and steady journey to fu
lfill His purpose. If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luke 9:23
Perhaps as with Christ on the way to the Cross, true passion for God can drive to the core of our emotions because it calls out for the deepest of commitments.
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