More Than a Fisherman by Jim Grassi

Author:Jim Grassi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2014-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Author collection of some first century artifacts from the Sea of Galilee

Gordon MacDonald wrote in his encouraging book Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, “Passion—the kind that causes some to excel beyond anyone else—dulls one’s sense of fatigue, pain, and the need for pleasure or even well-being. Passion leads some to pay incredible prices to reach a goal of some sort. . . . A passion is necessary in the performance of Christian faith.”3

This kind of passion is illustrated in the life of the apostle Paul. Indeed, Paul spoke from a wellspring of passion when he wrote, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13–14). Many of us experience spiritual passion when we first receive Christ into our hearts by faith. Like the healed man on the steps at the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 3:8), we leap for joy, and sometimes our infectious zeal embarrasses those who have more (or less) experience in matters of faith.

As time sets in, some believers institutionalize and compartmentalize their faith and spend too much time identifying with folks who have lost the joy of their salvation. If we are not careful, we may end up like many one-dimensional Christians—boring and uncaring. Too often, believers can become inactive participants—mere spectators of life and of the lives around them. A mature Christian does not preclude passion, but learns to control or channel his emotions in a rational manner. He uses his passion as an engine to push his spiritual boat and to encourage others in their faith.

Most believers go through periods in which they find themselves lacking spiritual passion to one degree or another. We live in a hurried, stress-filled environment that tends to drain us of positive emotions. The busyness of our lifestyle absorbs what passion might exist. We find ourselves investing all our precious energies into events and programs of the public world. Meanwhile, our private world—the heart—starves for attention and encouragement. The more emphasis we place on activities, the less time we have for devotion. As MacDonald correctly observed, “Doing more for God may mean less time with God. Talking becomes an effective substitute for meditating or listening.”4

Didn’t Christ live a pressurized life? He only had about three and a half years to minister before He was taken away. But He never succumbed to the tyranny of the urgent. J. B. Phillips, in his book Your God Is Too Small, stated, “It is refreshing, and salutary, to study the poise and quietness of Christ. His task and responsibility might well have driven a man out of his mind. But He was . . . never a slave of the clock. He was acting, He said, as He observed God to act—never in a hurry.”5 Did Christ have passion? You bet He did, but it was balanced with humility and time for restoration.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.