Loving God

My mind has been wrestling with my love for God the past couple of days. I believe God exists and I know that I love him. I'd like to think I'd give my life if it was a choice between standing up for him or saving myself.

However, lately I've been stuck trying to comprehend my love or the passion of my love for God. I would say that although my love exists for God, I don't feel much passion about it. Some would say that's a good thing. Love for God shouldn't be tied to emotion or feelings. To some extent that's true. However, passion is important. I can't imagine a husband being encouraged by his wife's love if it didn't have any passion behind it. Since we are the church, and the church is the bride of Christ, I would think there needs to be some passion behind it.

I absolutely love my car. I have a 2002 Toyota 4Runner. It's kind of my mid-life crisis car. It's the first vehicle I bought that's actually what I wanted. All others were based on what I could buy with what I could scrape together at the time. When I bought my 4Runner, though, I went for a used one because I liked the old body style better, wanted the upgrades and saved $11,000 over buying a new one. Every month I love making my car payment. It sounds silly, but I get excited to make it because I know that payment is going toward something that I love passionately.

I should have at least that much passion for my Creator. Since God is the source of love, I know where to get that kind of passion. Scripture says whatever I ask in Jesus' name he'll give me and won't resent my asking. I'm on a mission to find it. My guess is that most Christians in America also need to take on this mission. As my pastor says, we're only known for what we're against. If we find the passionate love for God that he wants us to have, I know that will change because our lives and actions will change.

I've got a to-do list for 2009. Practical steps for becoming a better person and being more productive. I'm sure none of that will matter and some of it will not be possible or beneficial without God's love passionately showing through. I'll be just another resounding gong or clanging cymbal.

Here's to the mission.