| | "I often speak of 'passion' for Jesus instead of love for Jesus because the word love has lost its biblical meaning in many religious circles today. As I said earlier, there has been a consistent attempt by theologians and popular preachers to define love primarily in terms of duty, without any reference to its emotional quality. A love for God that is devoid of emotion is a fictional product created by the minds of modern teachers. The Bible never defines love in that way.
I like the word passion because it stresses the emotional side of love. Passion can be defined as 'any kind of feeling by which the mind is powerfully effected or moved: a vehement, commanding, or overpowering emotion.' Passion is a feeling the moves the mind and the will to action. The term passion covers a whole range of feelings that are appropriate to loving God. I am referring to such things as desire, longing, zeal, affection, craving, hunger, and so on. These feelings are all characteristic of a person who is deeply in love.
I want these passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, I want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord, but I want that obedience to spring out of a passionate love for him. I want to obey Jesus not simply out of discipline or duty, or because of some reward or fear of punishment. I want to serve him simply for the joy of being able to please the one I love so much. If discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man in love or a woman in love will never quit. That is the nature of love (Song 8:6-7). I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God."
- Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere
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| | Posted 12/28/2008 8:45 AM - 30 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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