A Passionate Life

When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.” — Luke 22:14-16

We can’t afford to play small right now.

We need to be cautious and careful with our health and the health of our neighbors, but we can’t be cautious with following and sharing Jesus.

And honestly – we only have to follow His example towards a passionate life.

When you look up the word passion in the Bible – you might find a variety of things. The Greek word for passion that’s found most often in the New Testament is epithumia and it means longing, desire, passion. Most often when it’s used in scripture it’s used to describe ungodly passions that we need to quit or hand to Jesus to live a holy life.

So if we don’t really dig, we could only assume that passion has to do with unhealthy rhythms, actions or activities that don’t bring God glory and don’t agree with what He’s written over our lives.

But here’s why I love looking a little deeper at the Greek: we find that the same word is often interpreted in different ways, and we’d totally miss it if we didn’t slow down to check.

The word epithumia that means passion, desire, longing – it’s the same one Jesus uses right before His death when He describes His stance towards eating with His disciples. And not just any old meal, but the one that we would carry on for thousands of years to remember and celebrate the fact that He’s given His body and His blood that we might be united with God and redeemed by His sacrifice.

He is passionate about us. He is passionate about redemption. He is passionate about salvation and resurrection and His rescue plan for our lives.

Make no mistake that passion is not an invention of the world that we need to cut out of our lives. We can be passionate in all the good, holy, beautiful activities of Heaven because we are made in the image of God and He is wildly passionate.

If we’re looking for a quiet or passive God to follow, we’re looking in the wrong place. God was so passionate about His relationship with you that He gave up His Son. Jesus was so passionate about you taking your place in the Kingdom that He went to the Cross for you specifically and for us as a whole. The Spirit is so passionate about being your helper and comforter, that He intercedes for you constantly – bringing you peace and communion and even more passion, because passion is from God.

Take it too far friends, the good stuff, because this is what you were made for.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Jess Connolly, author of Take It Too Far.

* * *

Your Turn

These are days to be careful for ourselves and others, for sure, but not with the Gospel of Jesus! Our Passionate King has a mission for us. Just follow Him! Come share your thoughts with us on our blog. We want to hear from you about being passionate like Jesus! ~ Devotionals Daily