Passion for Christ

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death.” Philippians 3:8-10

Nowadays, when you use the word “passion” it usually refers to sensuality or sexuality. But this is far from its true meaning. Passion is an intense emotion toward something or someone. The use of the word could be applied to limitless situations in life. Applying the word “passion” to spiritual life is also appropriate. This is what the apostle Paul was expressing from the text. Every believer should be passionate to their pursuit of spiritual vitality. This happens only when every believer is fervently seeking to know the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul went to Athens, he saw all around Rome and experienced how the Romans expressed their religious fervor by worshiping a host of gods that pertain to nature worship. They even had an idol inscribed underneath was “to the unknown God” (Acts 17:23). Paul who was passionate about his faith to the One True God explained who this God was and why he had placed his life upon Him. Once a person becomes a child of God, he or she is drawn upon God and will be motivated to know about Christ. It is not done in a casual or ordinary way, just like knowing the mere existence of a person, but accumulated facts that makes wanting to know Him more the greatest priority in life. God is not hard to find, for He is not far from every one of us. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:28). He is the One that will sustain our lives and the source of life. “For in him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:29). To know the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us and to begin a journey to intimacy and true knowledge of Christ will brought upon us a realization that He is enough for every longing we have. This is how Paul described himself that when he looked back to his life history, all his acclaim and accomplishments are nothing compared with knowing Christ in his life. Desire and have a thirst for the Lord so you will find yourself drinking Him in. Spend time in His word for by reading and mediating upon His word will fuel your passion to Christ.