How would you define your relationship with Christ? Are you a passionate Christian or would you define yourself as being passive toward Christ? Every Christian is in the driver’s seat as to what kind of relationship he or she will have with the Lord.
I realize that some people, through no fault of their own, have greater challenges in their Christian life than others do. For instance, how would you like to be a Christian born in a Muslim or Communist country in which your open expressions of Christianity can cost you your life? Obviously, it would be harder to thrive as a Christian in that environment.
I am not making light of that reality. But I am saying that at the end of the day, it’s up to us as to whether or not we will be passionate for Christ.
The Mindset Required for Passionate Christian Living
The choice to live a passionate Christian life requires a certain kind of thinking. Paul the apostle had the required mindset. “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,” he said (Philippians 3:7, KJV).
Paul was referring to the things he had going for himself in the flesh, which he shared in the preceding verses. He said, for instance, he was born a Hebrew. He was a Pharisee, the most religious sect of the Jews. And according to the legalistic laws, he was blameless.
But Paul cared for none of those things during his quest to live a passionate Christian life. Similarly, we must be willing to lose some of the things we value, if we want to know Christ more deeply.
But one of the main problems in the church today is that many Christians are too in love with this world. They are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to know Christ on a deeper level.
Not an Extreme Request but a Reasonable One
From whence did we get this casual attitude toward Christianity?
Certainly, we can’t find it in the Bible. The Lord commands us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind (Matthew 22:37). We can’t get anymore passionate than that.
What I am saying here may seem extreme to some but it’s not. The Bible says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1, KJV).
This is an interesting verse. First, it tells us that we should be a living sacrifice. We do this by dying to ourselves while living for Christ. Also, note that this verse says this kind of passionate lifestyle is our reasonable service. The word “reasonable” denotes that which belongs to the sphere of reason. In other words, this request is not extreme. Rather, it is consistent with sober spiritual thinking.
Our relationship with Christ can never be, will never be, any more than what we are willing to invest in it. So, how much are you willing to give up to invest in your relationship with Christ? What is it that you regard as being bigger than life in this world that you are willing to count as dung just to become a passionate Christian? These questions are important because your answers to them are a measure of your love for Christ or the lack thereof.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.