But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
53:5 NIV
I'm sure by now many of you if not most of you have seen The Passion of The Christ a movie directed and produced by Mel Gibson. If not, I urge you to go and see this film. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, hopefully as a result of seeing the movie you will consider it and begin asking questions and seeking answers. I challenge you to seek out a church that desires to answer your questions truthfully and honestly. If you do trust the Lord as your personal Savior, maybe seeing this film will renew your faith in Him and stir you Passion to Know Him. That, my friends, is what I want to talk with you about today.
Have you ever said, "Jesus, I will be obedient to You regardless of the consequences"? Or have you simply said, "I want to obey God"? Wanting to obey Him and actually doing it are two entirely different things. We can say over and over again that we want to be obedient without ever following through with doing it and that is the decision to obey Him no matter what it may cost you. When the question that you can't stop thinking about is, what does God want me to do? I would have to say that's "passion".
But there can be none of this wishy-washy, fence-riding kind of stuff. Because if Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, you can't tell Him you're going to obey Him only when you want to or it's convenient or it matches what "you" want. If you do that, the He really isn't Lord of your lifeyou are.
When you have a passion to obey God, miraculously, worry and anxiety seem to diminish. When you walk in His Spirit and are obedient to His call on our life, He takes on all the responsibility for the consequences of your obedience.
I'm not saying there will no longer be struggles. In fact, I can guarantee you that a commitment to obey God will still be present you with numerous challenges. But when it is your soul's desire to be in complete obedience to Christ, you can learn from your failures, let go of them and move on ahead.
Where is your "Passion"? Is it in a person or is it in possessions? I pray you have given your passion to a person and that is the person of Jesus Christ. If you see this movie I pray you will see just how much Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He allowed Himself to be accused, mocked, beaten, spit on, tortured and hung on a cross just so you could know God and one day enter into His awesome presence. I know He is so passionate about each and every one of you. If He wasn't, He wouldn't have done what He did. I hope you are as passionate to know Him as He is to know you.
May God Bless You!