Passion

"Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire." Hosea 7:6

God wants our passion. He wants us to be passionate about Him!

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24

God is a jealous God, and He wants our passion.

God created us to spend time with us and to be in a relationship with us. And what does He get? he watches us be passionate about everything else...except for Him. We get passionate about our sports- can't miss a football/soccer/baseball game. We get passionate about our hobbies, forgoing Sunday services to spend the days fishing/boating/shopping. We spend hours a day scrap booking/gaming/watching TV but we can't seem to find a few minutes just for Him. We claim to be caught up in the act of parenting, with never a dull moment, but when we do get time to ourselves, we pick up one of our many activities and devote some time to that instead of to Him.

God wants our passion!

God wants our hearts- He wants all of us. He doesn't just want us on Sunday mornings. He doesn't just want us when we have a few minutes, He wants us All. The. Time.

When we get to heaven, God is not going to congratulate us for all the computer games we've won, all the scrapbook pages we've completed, all the vegetable gardens we've designed, or all the books we've read. Or worse, we're not going to be congratulated for choosing to sleep a little later or longer...And all that stuff really doesn't matter. Yet, we give it a priority and we call it a passion.

Do I honestly believe that if I woke up earlier in the morning and devoted time to God, that He wouldn't bless me with the energy to get through my day?

Now I'm not talking about giving up everything, discarding everything to just spend time with God (although I suppose for a few, that could be a very real calling). But what I'm talking about is priorities and passion. We need to make passion for God our number one priority. And after we've spent time with Him, after we've given Him our best time first, then we can try knitting that sweater or baking that cake. After we've given him the best of our day, THEN we can see about getting the kids to soccer/ballet/playgroup. When we purpose to put God first, He will give us the tools we need for the rest of our day. When we put Him first, everything else falls into place. We suddenly find ourselves with the energy needed to care for our families, homes and the people around us.

But we have to put Him first.

That's how He designed us. Adam and Eve made the mistake of not putting God first. They put themselves first when they decided to disobey. They were cast out of that intimate relationship with God... but thankfully, then, Jesus came to redeem man and restore the opportunity for that relationship. And every year we celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas, and his death and resurrection at Easter- but where is our real celebration? Where is our passion? Where are our priorities? Jesus made a way- and yet we choose to ignore that way, we choose to set God aside, proclaiming that we don't have time. Meanwhile, we pour ourselves a cup of coffee and sidle up to the computer to waste away a few hours doing absolutely nothing.

God wants our passion.

He wants our hearts. All of it.

We don't we call God a passion? Why don't we put Him first? That's what God wants from us. And He won't stop until He gets that, because He is a jealous God.

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:3

Don't be fooled by a world around us that says we have this to do and that to do. Don't be fooled by the world around us who says we won't be happy unless we have all these material possessions. Give it all to Him. Give Him your checkbook, your home, your boat, and most importantly, give Him your heart. And then, then He will give you all the time and money and things you need. He will provide your shelter. He will provide your meals, and He will provide you with the most beautiful Saturday morning where you can spend time fishing- which He knows you love to do.

Do not be led astray by the world around us that says we need to be passionate about everything we do. We need passion for one: we need passion for God.