Passion for God

In the last post I thought about how our love for others should make mission as natural as breathing. Today we think of the other side of the same coin - our love for God. The most passionate people for mission, evangelism and the growth of the Kingdom have always been those who, above all else, are passionate about God. Every Christian movement that has grown throughout history has started with a white hot love for God. Starting with St Paul, through to people like John Wesley, St Francis, Martin Luther, and more recently, John Wimber and Mother Teresa, there has been one common denominator and that is their passionate love of God that propels them forward into mission.

Every Christian starts out as a passionate follower of Jesus whose love is evident, but time and the worries of life drain that love away. The things that make up our walk with Jesus - prayer, worship, giving, service, Bible - become a chore rather than a delight because the love we once had for God has become lukewarm. One of the ways in which our relationship with God is described in Scripture is as a marriage - we are the Bride of Christ. Every marriage goes through ups and downs and in those times when love fades, work needs to be done in order to regain a regain love that was lost. Experience tells us that it is absolutely possible for love that was once lost to be rediscovered. If you feel that you have lost your first love for God what can you do to regain it? Here are some suggestions but I'm sure you can add others.

• Time - are you giving proper time to your relationship with God?
• Communication - every relationship needs good communictaion, especially listening. Are you listening to God?
• Focus on His beauty - everything you read in Scripture will say something about the character and nature of God. Whatever passage you read this week spend time searching for what it says about the character of God.
• Remember his love for you - THE CROSS - take time to gaze upon the cross and to worship Jesus.