By Danny Minton

I was playing golf one day with some folks, one of whom was not doing very well. You could sense that his anger was just about to reach a limit. As we “made the turn” to play the back nine holes, his score was indicating triple digits by the end of the day. On the twelfth hole, he hit his ball into the water. You could see the frustration in his face. The second ball followed the first into the water. He was just to the verge of erupting. Hitting his third ball into the water, he finally couldn’t hold back. He took his club, raised it high, brought it back into a throwing position, and then, with a shrill scream, threw the club as far into the water as he could. Then came the ultimate, “I QUIT” after throwing his entire bag, clubs, balls, markers, towel, and anything else in the bag’s pockets into the pond. He then headed to the parking lot. I think he picked up the game later in life, but that day, he had lost his passion to play the game.

Do you ever feel, at times, like you’ve lost your passion to truly be like Jesus?
Remember what it was like when you first became a Christian? 
Remember the passion of your youth when you boldly spoke of the Savior?
Remember the passion you felt when you first knew God had plans for you?
Remember when you sat in worship and you could genuinely feel Jesus working on your heart?

I do think that sometimes we get so caught up in the mundane that we forget what it was like to have the fire burning in our hearts to serve the Lord. We often get caught up in the complaints and wishes of others, forgetting that our primary purpose is to serve God and lead others to follow Him. We forget to refresh ourselves, putting us in danger of losing the spark that fuels our desire to serve, worship, and live for Christ.

Sometimes, as Christians, we forget that serving can help us refill our passion. When our lives become about doing things because we are told to do them instead of accomplishing things because we sincerely want to do them, we can lose that deep desire we once held close to our hearts. Like many, I have had times where desires almost gave way to tossing things in the water and saying, “I Quit!” Throughout the years, my passion has fluctuated, with periods of strength and other times when I struggled to maintain the right attitude. Then I’d watch an inspiring movie or read a book about someone who had a great desire to share Christ in places far away, sometimes in life and death situations. Sometimes I hear of the great deeds of service someone has done. Things like this will fan the flame of passion in my heart and keep it burning. 

Do we keep the passion burning inside us to want Jesus to be alive and well in the hearts and minds of not only us but those we meet daily? It’s easy to forget why we are where we are. It can be easy to fall into the same syndrome that the rich and famous do when they set themselves above everyone else. When we expect people to listen to us because we carry the name “Christian,” without showing them the face of Jesus, then we have forgotten the passion.

I find it interesting that many people called Jesus the “Son of God,” but Jesus constantly referred to himself as the “Son of Man.” In fact, the phrase occurs 78 times in the Gospels. 

Jesus didn’t come as a celebrity whose every desire was to be catered to. He tells his leadership method in the book of Mark. “For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)

May we never forget why we first decided to give our lives to Christ. When our hearts were burning with passion, we chose to serve and looked forward to it. If others are not getting the passion to be Jesus in their hearts, then it may be that they don’t see it in us. We can talk all we want, but as I’ve heard others say, “People watch our feet” to see if that is the way they want to walk. If we don’t have the passion to serve, neither will those we desire to reach with Christ, no matter how loud we may be.

Wouldn’t it be great for the cause of Christ to have the attitude of Isaiah when God called for someone to go to the people on His behalf? God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” The answer comes quickly. Without hesitation, Isaiah speaks up, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). A true example of what it means to have the fire burning in your heart so passionately is to, without hesitation, perform acts of kindness and service for God. Or like Paul, who would wipe the dust from his feet when a town didn’t want to hear and proceed to the next one that might listen. Or like all the unnamed people that the Hebrew writer describes, as being tortured, stoned, sawn in two, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, destitute, and hiding in caves in the desert, all because of their passion for serving Christ. (Hebrews 11)

We must all look for ways in our lives to keep the passion to serve burning and pass this passion on to the next generation to carry. That flame we once held in our hearts will always be there; it’s just that every once in a while, we have to do some fanning to rekindle the fire and light up the darkness that tries to creep into our lives.

“We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:18-19

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ