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Day Twenty-One | March 17 Passion TWENTY-ONE
It has become the mantra of a generation: “I am spiritual but not religious.” And I know what they mean when they say it: “I believe in God but not in organized religion.” And when I hear it, I always twist an old Will Rogers quip to respond: “Oh, I am not a member of an organized religion. I am a Methodist.”
It is sad, to be sure, that there are so many who have just a passing curiosity with our Lord. It is sad that there are so many – even sitting in the pews of Christian churches – who believe only in theory, who accept ... but only to a certain degree.
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Don’t take this Jesus-stu too seriously or people will think that you’re weird. Don’t get too involved or you might get hurt. It’s better to have a chilly, “almost” relationship with Jesus than to have none at all, right?
It seems that the Gospels would disagree. To those who knew Jesus best, it was impossible to have a relationship like that. It was unthinkable that we would settle for having anything less than a living, thriving, ever-growing, ever-deepening relationship with our Lord. He was more than just a good man. He was more than just some sage guru with all the answers. Jesus did not come to teach the way or even to show the way. Jesus was and is the Way. He is our Way. He is our Messiah, our Savior, our Provider.
And one of the greatest gifts (and utmost responsibilities) He entrusts to us is passion. Though cheapened by the world, passion is more than just some cheap and tawdry urge. It’s not about sex, for it’s far more than any physical act. It’s deeper than that. It’s stronger than that. It’s about purpose and meaning and strength. It’s about finding something, Someone more important than ourselves – and giving ourselves entirely to His will. It is to sacrifice and su er for a cause so supremely worthy that we rejoice in the pain – that is what passion actually means: it means “to su er.”
WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
And at no time in the Christian year are we ever so aware of that fact than during Lent, during these days that confront us with Calvary’s cruel agony and Christ’s redeeming love. And God equips us, He provides us with the ability to do the same: to be passionate – to stoke that fundamental and burning desire within us that urges us to engage this world, to embrace this world – our world, our mission field.
In an age that wants to make everything easy, in a time that craves user-friendliness and simplicity, faith stands as an outlier. It was never intended to be easy. It was never intended to make sense. It was meant to challenge us and to stretch us. It was meant to commandeer every cell of our being. More than mere intellectual assent, for the believer, faith is the passionate, lifelong, all-consuming pursuit of Christlikeness – a journey that sco s at our o er of “almost” and demands our everything.
