Mr. Douglas grabbed his bag and keys, and left the office. This used to be his favorite part of the day; with a hand out the window and the music blasting, he would sing as loud as his lungs would allow until his car reached the garage. But he didn’t enjoy this as much anymore, he had accepted the fact that some parts of life inevitably become stale.....It was Tuesday, so of course he didn’t have any plans. But dinner was something to look forward to and then he could unwind before going to bed. I wish I had enough energy to spend time with God, Mr. Douglas thought to himself. It’s ok though, at least I’m reading that Christian inspirational book every once in a while. Plus there’s not much in my life that I need to pray about, and I’m not mentoring anyone so I don’t really need to be on the top of my game spiritually.
In his book *The Life You’ve Always Wanted* Ortberg writes, “Sometimes, although I am aware of how far I fall short, it doesn’t bother me very much. And I am disappointed at my lack of disappointment.”
So last time we talked about being accepted by God and allowing Him into the depths of who we are. But there is another side to it; passionately pursuing the depths of who God is (the Father, Son, AND Spirit). Our passion for God should be powerful! We cannot let that relationship become stagnant in any way, as if we are burnt out from following Jesus. This is a serious problem in most Christians lives. We should consistently be hearing God’s voice, learning from Him, and giving Him a permit to transform us.
I want you to spend time thinking about these questions.
· What in life are you passionate about? Are you pursuing those passions?
· How has God recently transformed you? If He hasn’t, why not?
· What in your life is inhibiting your desire for the Lord?
The most frustrating thing in the world is when you are trying to teach someone or get them excited about something, and all they present to you is apathy. Do not let that be you. Do not believe that lie. Take every measure required to change everything in your life that you aren’t doing to your full potential. If you are going to lead people to Christ, people must follow you. Nobody wants to follow someone like Mr. Douglas, or anybody who remotely resembles that kind of person.
What helps me is to ask God to challenge me, even if it is in areas of my life I’m scared to be challenged in. “God put challenges in my daily life that give me an opportunity to step up and live for You.” A lot of times I fail….but to me that is better than becoming stagnant.
What gives you passion to be like Jesus? How do we find that passion, and once we find it how do we keep it from becoming a stale routine? Share what helps you personally.
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6 comments:
One thing that really gets me about this scenario is our presentation of the gospel. America has tried so hard to make Jesus appealing to the masses that we’ve reduced the message to a happiness doctrine. If you get God you’ll be happy, healthy, and wealthy. When the world is presented with this gospel, their response is more often than not something like this: “Jesus? No thanks, I’m pretty happy with my situation now, I’ve got an Xbox and a case of beer.” This response comes because they only see Christ as an addition to their enjoyment, not the solution to their cancer (read sin).
You can’t get saved until you realize you’re lost. We need to be doing a better job as a body to balance the grace, love, and blessings of God with the truth of his message. After all, Jesus spent more time talking about hell than any other topic in the NT. People need to see their sin in comparison to a Holy God, not their pagan buddy.
Mr. Douglas, it seems, has not fully grasped the depths of the faith. If he (we) really understand the transformational work of Christ we will be far more likely to invest time into knowing our savior.
Yea thats very true, one must first know the need for God before coming to God.
I guess it comes down to having faith that we can be transformed in a more real way than we can imagine. But as a follower of Christ...what helps you consitantly realize the importance of transforation???? (more in depth than reading the Bible or talking to God)
That’s a great question, and one that I’ve never really asked myself. I guess the easy answer is that the Bible tells me to do this. But apparently this answer won’t fly on this blog
I think for me I see the importance of transformation in the enjoyment of life. If I am not living a spirit led life, I don’t feel too great about the way things are going. This (hopefully) motivates me to desire God in a deeper and more intimate way. One thing I’m learning is that the process of sanctification is not easy. I want to read a book or listen to an inspirational speaker and then try to change myself rather than humbling myself to the Lord and acknowledging that only he can bring about real change.
by the way, that comment about not being able to say that on your blog was a joke...it didn't come off that way and I felt bad about it-i'm not a funny man.
I think one thing that probably has something to do with it is that we here in america don't really know what it means to suffer. Because our nation is a "christian" nation and we have religious freedom, we don't have to have anything to worry about when it comes to proclaiming our faith.When we think of suffering we think of getting made fun of or making things awkward or worrying about what people will think of us, but in reality that isn't really suffering at all. ask a christian in a muslim country or in china about suffering and see what they say?
Because we don't have any threat to us because of our faith and we are not in danger we don't have any reason to fight for our faith. So then it becomes easy to sit back and just become a church-going chritian and we become dull. Maybe a question we should be asking ourselves is what are we fighting for?
EXACTLY! thats awesome josh....what are you fighting for?? if you say God, than i would ask how are you fighting for God? We are made to be passionate and that passion looks different in every person!
Of course its common for american Christ followers to have a dull walk. We will daily be bombarded with how to be like EVEYONE ELSE...but we really need to share our passions in a way that relates to EVERYONE ELSE. How do we find what we are personally passionate about????????? Honestly how does that happen??
O'callaghan: no offense taken haha--- Maxwell talks in a chapter of his book 'Developing the leader within' about attitude. What he mostly talks about is how most of the time we wait for circumstances to change our attitude instead of changing our attitude about the cituation (God helps a lot with that aspect)
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