Passion

Passion defined is:
 Ardent love or affection; a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept; any strongly felt emotion, such as love, hate, envy; the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm; an outburst expressing intense emotion; any state of the mind in which it is affected by something external, such as perception, desire; feelings, desires or emotions, as contrasted with reason; the sufferings and death of a Christian martyr

Synonyms: passion, fervor, fire, zeal, ardor

These nouns denote powerful, intense emotion.
Passion is a deep, overwhelming emotion
Fervor is great warmth and intensity of feeling
Fire is burning passion: "In our youth our hearts were touched with fire" (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)
Zeal is strong, enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance
Ardor is fiery intensity of feeling
 Passion. We as a church, as Christians, are lacking passion. Our desire to seek after God seems to have faded in the background, into our comfortable seats at church. We stand and recite songs, er, worship, and lift our voices to the ceiling, I mean God. Then the dreaded "Meet and Great". Oh man! If I could just stay in my seat and not move, maybe no one will notice. Or I could pretend to look for something in my purse so I don't have to say hello to anyone. Ah! Finally that is over! We slouch into our seats hoping no one will make eye contact because the nursery needs workers. We get settled, grab our Bibles and wait for the passage we are reading from. We open our Bibles as we always do and try our hardest to listen to what is being taught. Unfortunately, we are preoccupied with the noises around us and with seeing who is at church that morning. "Well, I wonder where so and so is and why would that person be wearing that?" "Oh what did the pastor say? I must have missed that." As the end of the sermon gets closer, we watch carefully as the pastor finally closes his Bible and prays. We stretch our legs as we, yawning, sing our praises and hearts to the Lord. All the while looking forward to eating our dinner. WHERE IS OUR PASSION!?! WHERE IS OUR DESIRE? When did the yearning to deepen our relationship with Christ fade into the mundane act of religion? I have been that person in the seats at church. I was raised on religion and the boundaries we put on ourselves because we are too afraid to step out of our comfortable seats. I have felt this passion for a few years now. This passion and yearning and desire to seek after my Papa. To seek a relationship with Him that will take me to greater depths in stepping out on faith. At times I want to get up and shout out to everyone "WHERE IS YOUR PASSION CHURCH?!? WAKE UP!" This amazing God that we serve has rescued you! He has saved you! Stand up and shout it out to all that will hear. Show it to your kids. Show it to your neighbors. Show it to someone, anyone. This passion for Christ burns inside of me and has only recently found it's way out.

I look at my children, ages 3, 5, and 6, and see this faith and love and passion to shout it out that they LOVE God. They get so excited to share the news with others and are so excited to learn more about him. They have an eagerness within them that they can hardly wait to learn more. We read Bible stories and night and they love to hear about God. They love to pray for their hurts physical and emotional. They pray for others who are hurting. One of the prayers said in our home from our Munchkin is, "God, Bless those who love you and bless those who don't love you." God has been humbling me through my husband and our children. He has been using our children to show me that eagerness and passion and desire to learn all that I can about God. He's teaching me to step out in faith. 

Oh church, oh brothers and sisters. Where is our passion? Where is our faith like a child? Where is our compassion for others? Our desire for God? I am so thankful for God's patience and long-suffering. I am so thankful for his gentleness and grace. I am so thankful that he doesn't get bored with me. I am so thankful that He loves me so much that he is pursuing me constantly! I am so thankful that I am not God because I would have given up on me a long time ago. Thank you Papa for always pursuing me and drawing me close to you! Thank you for giving me a passion and a desire and a love for you!