April 2025: Passion

The “Passion for Christ” is more than a movie it’s the will of God for your life!  To have a relationship with God that is fully engaged and prioritized above everything and anyone else is the kind of passion that causes a believer to thrive, and not just survive.  Passion for God ignites sincere fellowship; it anchors verbal commitment and drives our behavior beyond tradition, logic and religion.  Passion welcomes more—more zeal, more knowledge and greater commitment.  With passion, you can recover after stumbling and recoup after storm.  Without passion, you dangerously close to compromise and carnality. 

Yet when God revealed Himself to you, His desire was to love you and to be loved by you, sincerely.   And, passion speaks to that love.  A love for Him that’s demonstrated by eagerness and intensity; a love that dominates your thinking and makes you willing.  It’s passion.  Some identify passion with a hobby or a vocation, but God wants us to identify passion with Him.  I think about the disciples who Scripture says, “left all” to follow Jesus.  There passion for Christ left little room for folly, rather it evoked greater curiosity, and for some a resolve to change.

​Certainly none is perfect but to recognize imperfections in the presence of God and desire change, so that we look more like our Savior, is a part of passion that we should all aspire towards.  For example, Zacchaeus didn’t just follow Christ, he gave half of his wealth to feed the poor and he restored “fourfold” what he had falsely taken.  There was a newfound passion within him that brought about a change in his behavior towards others.  Or consider Paul’s passion for law. He was passionate for the law and willing to uphold it to the death. It’s allowing His presence to shine in the dark places of our heart, exposing areas the enemy can target for our spiritual downfall or impotence.

Passion for God does whatever you can to please Him out of devotion not burden.  Passion pursues the scriptures out of genuine desire to know Him without legalism.  Passion is what you day dream about and what you can’t wait to begin—and while, we all have something we’re passionate for, the passion for Christ should supersede all else.  Simon Peter was able to say, “we left all” to follow Christ (Matthew 19:27), and so should we—be willing to say, I leave all to follow my passion for Christ.

What I’m talking about is the difference between zeal and apathy.  And while there are many degrees in between the two, God doesn’t live in gray zones.  He wants us “hot” or “cold” towards Him (Revelations 3:15-16).  He wants our whole heart, not our traditions and rituals (Psalm 119:2).  He wants our obedience, not just our works or gifts (Matthew 7:21-22).  He wants our love, not our sacrifice (1 John 2:15).  He wants you!  All of you:  your strengths, your weakness, and your quirks.

All of you—your commitment, your time, your heart, your treasure, your talent… your all.  And when you can give Him all of you, not only will your fellowship with Him be richer and your love for Him sweeter, but therein, you will be complete, satisfied and fulfilled in life.  “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30) This is a promise Jesus makes, and you should note, it’s a promise for this life and the life to come. 

Clearly, you can’t drum this passion up on your own, but you can stir it up by being transparent before God.  Like anything, you have to start somewhere.  So, if you’re struggling in your passion for God, tell Him, but even more, ask Him to birth within you a hunger that outweighs everything else in your life.

If you can do that, a true passion for Christ will be ignited in your life!  In Jesus name.

​​- Pastor Qwynn Gross