Passion

(This post turned into a really dis-jointed collection of thoughts. Sorry about that! Sometimes everything God is trying to teach is hard to fully explain.)

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"Do not worry about tomorrow, today has enough trouble of its own."
-Matthew

These words that Matthew wrote as He was moved by the Holy Spirit, scream a very important message. The message is simple: live all out, where you are, TODAY.
These few words implore us and urge us to live passionately.

Many phrases like this can be found in the Bible.
"Take up your cross and follow Him."
"Leave everything and follow Jesus."
"She loved much."
"Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only."

These verses, at their core, challenge every part of our lives in America.
We live in a culture where dying to your own desires, is unheard of.
We live in a culture where people want what they want, right now.
We live in a culture where we want to keep things to ourselves, and get more things.
Our culture teaches us to love ourselves, instead of loving others or loving God.
Our Churches are filled with people that merely listen to the Word, and then go live the "American Dream" the other 6 days of the week.

How can this be so?
How can "radical Christians who love Jesus" sit around and play video games, watch movies all day, watch the latest reality TV show, spend thousands of dollars on food and entertainment, settle for shallow relationships that only leave hurt and bitterness, and live every day as if the whole word revolves around them?

Ya, ya, ya, none of these things are "wrong" or "bad"...I get that.
All I'm asking is a simple question: is it right?
Is it right for us to live like that?
Or is something missing?

Is passion missing from our lives?

I thought it was for a long time, but I don't think so anymore.
Sadly, I think the problem isn't a lack of passion, but a mis-guided passion.
We are too often passionate about things that God isn't passionate about.
Isn't that really the point of prayer and of reading the Word?
When we do that, when we genuinely seek Him, we find Him, and when we find Him, His will finds us.
His passions BECOME our passions.
When we find Him, we no longer live as we used to live.
We are no longer OK with indulging in the worldly pursuits that we once used to walk in.

The scary part here is this: if we say we've found Him, but we don't live for Him...it's probably time to examine where we stand before the Creator and Judge.

The truest reflection of our state of salvation is the fruit we are producing or the deadness of our lives.

There is a lot of deadness in America. The Church is sick...very sick.

Many of us in my generation talk about being radical...and that's great!
We see there is a problem, and that is a good thing.
Many see the fix. We want to "go be a missionary someday." We want to "be in ministry." All those things are great. If that's God's calling on your life, go do it! Don't wait!

But perhaps, for some of us at least, the beginning of a radical existence lived solely for our Savior, is a life that simply uses time well.
Praying instead of watching sports.
Choosing to read our Bibles instead of read the latest celebrity gossip.
Writing deep thoughts and reading deep books instead of...(you fill in the blank.)
Etc.

The Gospels unmistakeably call us to a "radical lifestyle."
But we don't understand what this really means.
To paraphrase John Piper: Jesus calls us to a "war-time mentality."
In war, people sacrifice. People cut out the things that are unnecessary.
They focus on the ultimate goal. They focus on the task at hand.

The challenge today is simple.

What is the goal? To live like Jesus tells us to live.
What are the steps to get there? God reveals this to us in His word!
What do we need to eliminate from our lives so that we live fully for Jesus, right here and right now? Why would we take part in something He isn't passionate about?

Remember: "the way we live our days, is the way we live our lives."

I am in the process of reading the book "Radical" by David Platt.
One of the sections talks about "American Wealth and a World of Poverty."

The author says: "More than twenty-six thousand children today (did you catch that? that's 26 THOUSAND...TODAY) will breathe their last breath due to starvation or a preventable cause."
Think about that? Today, 26,000 people died...because nobody was willing to help...because the Church in America is selfish...because I'm selfish.
Think about how many of those kids will die tomorrow while we go to a nice air-conditioned Church in the middle of one of the richest counties on the planet.

Is this a blind spot in our lives?
We are quick to condemn the Christian's who approved and even encouraged slavery 150 years ago. What will Christian's say about us in 150 years if Jesus doesn't come back first?
What will Jesus say to us?

Does this seem backwards to anybody?
We live in HUGE houses...drive INCREDIBLE cars...go to BEAUTIFUL churches...
We indulge in American prosperity whether we want to admit it or not...and I am afraid it has stolen our passion.
Our passions don't really line up with the passions of Jesus, and that scares me.
At the very least, I've realized that my passions aren't fully aligned with Jesus, and I need to diligently and desperately seek His face about that.

One of my favorite lines from Tenth Avenue North says:
"If there's no other way, I'm done asking why."

Stop asking why, and go live all out for Jesus.
Let's live TODAY, like He wants us to live.
Be passionate about the things that He is passionate about.
Dare to strive for excellence.
Dare to live on less, so others can live and find life in Jesus.