Passion for God
Passion for God is a very good thing, however it's something I wish I had more visibly more often! Often with me there's a break somewhere between the head and the heart. As is always the case, the answer comes from repeatedly reminding the sinful person within exactly who God is and what he has done.
God is Lord. He reminded the Israelites repeatedly of this in the wilderness. We should not follow anything or anyone else. Remembering that he is creator and sustainer of everything, as well as the definition of what is good and just, helps to create right attitude of reverence and fear that he truly deserves (Exodus 20). This is someone not to want to get on the wrong side of, and not someone to belittle or treat with too little regard. As Narnia puts it, he’s a friendly lion, but not a tame lion.
God is Love. In being three in one, God is relational and defines pure love. Furthermore, God wants a relationship with us to the extent that he revealed himself personally to us in his son, limiting himself to a man, being rejected, despised and hated, and ultimately undeservedly dying for those who deserved to die (Romans 5:6-8, Isaiah 52-53).
God has a plan. Tying the above together, God will unite all things under one head, Christ. This salvation plan has been in place since the beginning, and makes sense of all things. There is a glorious end in sight, and shows us just how good and important it is to live for Christ in all aspects of our lives. Christ died to present us pure to our heavenly father, and we are right before God only because of his actions (Ephesians).
God is fantastically powerful, unfathomably loving, and has a plan for the world. There are myriad reasons to be passionate about serving our Father, including those of fearful respect, knowing his righteousness, heartfelt gratitude at his rescue, and knowledge that his plan is rightfully and unstoppably coming to completion. However being a sinful man I recognise that I let myself be dulled by the chimes of the world far to often. Thus, the importance of immersing in scripture, fellowship, building one another up in Christ, prayer, and living for God, should never be underestimated!!! Only with God at the foundation will true passion for his plan happen.
Amongst other things, I'm hoping to read a chapter each day of Piper's - '50 reasons why Jesus came to die' each day. There's definitely enough time each morning for this (they're very short!), even if it end up being on the tram!!! Why not check it out - it's free to download and has helped me a lot in the past.
Romans 5:6-8
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
