The Necessity of Passion…
Jun 4th, 2010 by ljkim
Here’s my proposition: you can’t really follow Jesus unless you are passionate about God. Luke-warm won’t cut it. Most of us have spiritual thermostats that are practically stuck on luke-warm: It’s not that we don’t care…it’s more like we can’t see what all the fuss is about; can’t see anything to really get excited about. But the Gospel is that we are sinful creatures deserving of Hell (right now), and that Jesus went to Hell so that we can be adopted as God’s Sons in his place… So that now all of His power and glory and righteousness is ours. Dude, it doesn’t get any more extreme than that. And if that doesn’t excite a passionate resistance against (who are you calling sinful?), or a passionate devotion to your Savior – then you’re just not paying attention…
The thing about luke warm is – in a luke warm bath, you usually have some hot water… It’s just that the hot water is diluted in the cold. Luke warm people have their moments of heat. Chances are that if you’re luke warm spiritually, you do believe in a radical Gospel… You don’t think Jesus was just a person – and you see the incredible-ness of Jesus’ message from time to time. Chances are you even love certain Christian books and preachers and music because they communicate the radical Gospel clearly to you. Heat! But at the same time you live a conventional life of self-advancement seeking the American dream.
In order to follow Jesus you not only need to believe a radical Gospel, but you have to live it. You have to take an axe to all the things in your life that Jesus would hate. All the things that smack of pride and exclusivity and self serving privilege, all the things that distract you from God and act like God substitutes in your life… Gideon chopped down his fathers idols, literally…you and I often need to do the same in a figurative sense.
Following Jesus requires passion. Only passionate followers of Jesus will actually get up and follow Him. If you want to negotiate better terms, if you’re considering other options (other than a radical life of Jesus-ness) then you may not come.
I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty. I’m as guilty as you – even more so because I’m older than some of you and I’ve known this longer. But I’m telling you this so that you will know what needs to happen next. You need to become a passionate follower of Jesus. So get ready.
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Thanks, Leo — this has been rolling around in my head today.
I think God has been dropping huge signs into my life that I should be thinking about this issue more myself lately.