Passionate?

Being a half hearted follower of God is not much fun.  To borrow a famous quote, being half-hearted is having: "too much sin to really enjoy Jesus and to much Jesus to really enjoy sin".  We want to be fully paid up, going-for-it, white hot disciples!  We want to be passionate!

But how do we become more passionate?  Well like everything else it starts with God.  God's passion for us.  In this mini-series of articles we look at God's passion for us and how we can reflect it back to him:

Part One: The Desire

We do not know when it started, more likely that it was simply always there.  Not that we can speculate that it grew in intensity from a spark to a raging fire.  His desire is as strong now as it has always been.  Where does it come from?  What is the stimulus? Well, that is hard to say.  He certainly has no need of anything.  The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.  What can anyone give to someone who has everything.  But somewhere in the heart of God is a desire.  An intense, burning desire.  A desire to create and birth what he is himself.  He desires love because he is love.  We want friendship because he is essentially the truest friend.  He desires community because he, The Trinity, is community.  And when he made human beings in his own image and said “that’s good” – correction – “that’s VERY good”, unsurprisingly, he wants their company.  He wants to wake up everyday and say “hello, good morning.”  He wants any number of walks in the garden in the cool of the day.  His delight was obvious from the start, giving his image-bearer everything he needed for life.  Conferring dominion and work to his man and watching with pleasure as the man used his considerable faculties and powers to care for God’s creation and name his creatures.  His desire was satisfied … but sadly for only a short while.

Of course he could have created machines, robots, who would be programmed to give automatic responses of dutiful obedience.  But would that satisfy the one who is by nature FREE and LOVE?  Of course not.  So he made humans with the freedom to choose to love … or not to love.  Which is of course where the risky adventure of creation appeared to go so disastrously wrong.  The objects of his affection wanted out of the relationship.  His evening walking companions were off walking without him.

But rather than diminishing the desire, it heightened it.  The passion intensified.  If the freedom he so bravely gave was used against him then he would find a way to reclaim the people he loves.  His passion would seek out new pathways of expression.  The people may harden themselves and persist in their rebellion (and they did) but this Lover was not going away.  He cannot escape from himself.  The people may become increasingly corrupt and perverse (and they did) but this passionate love did not find its source in the goodness of the focus.  It found its source in the heart of … itself.

The decision had already been taken.  The ancient archives would record that God already had a plan.  He may have lost his beloved but he would act to find him.  God himself would provide the answer.

Food for thought: 

Why does God desire your company so much?