Finding Passion

Last Sunday, we started our fall series entitled, “Breakthrough Change”. We studied the letter to the church at Ephesus from Revelation chapter 2:17, and you can listen to it here.

In the letter, Jesus affirms the church that they are doing some things very well. Particularly their endurance and their commitment to sound doctrine—two things Harvest has done very well. However, He rebukes them for “abandoning the love you had at first.” He shows them how to recapture that love through remembering the heights of the relationship, repenting from how they let the relationship slip, and redoing what they did at first.

Our goal from this study is to recapture and revive our passion for Christ in our lives. It’s one thing to have a passion for God’s Word or a passion for church (two passions that drive me), but that’s not necessarily the same thing as having a passion for Christ Himself.

So where do we find this passion? Jesus gives us the method right in the text:

REMEMBER the love God has for us. We need to learn again just how deep, how wide, how long, and how high God’s love is for us. We need to remember what it cost Him to save us and that He loved us so much that He gave everything to be with us.

REPENT of our sins and take responsibility for what we’ve done to damage the relationship. The first step to spiritual revival in every age has always been repentance. We need to come back to Christ and confess our sins, and He will release us from our spiritual bondage and set us free in His grace.

REDO the things that build into the relationship—spending time with Christ in prayer and in His word. Maybe it’s journaling or listening to worship CDs; maybe it’s being a part of a small group or Bible study.

These three steps will bring a passion to our relationship with Christ. My prayer is that God would create a spark of spiritual energy and passion in each of us, so that the fire can start and spread. Ask God to spark in you a passion for Christ today!