Have We Lost Our Passion?

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. " "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!" (Luke 12:49, 51) These are strong words from Jesus. Strong especially for someone who hold the title of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Yet despite their harsh tone, I've become increasingly more convicted of them the longer I think about these words.

The Apostles gave up everything to follow Christ, and if you read about some of the earliest Christians, they usually went off to their martyrdom singing. It's because Jesus changed their lives in such a radical way, they could think of no better response then to give themselves wholeheartedly over to him. What was that fire Jesus spoke about, the ones that turned his simple fishermen and tax collectors into fearless preachers? That fire was a conviction that Jesus's teachings were true, that he was who he claimed to be, and that he really DID save humanity form sin and death.

We are in danger of losing that fire, that passion today. We live in a world where we're told to keep things to ourselves, don't rock the boat. In fact, I think because of this the most passionate people I've seen are those who don't hold my beliefs. When a pro-choicer proclaims that a woman has a right to choose, she's speaking with passion. When a pastor on the Internet condemns the Catholic belief in the Pope, he's speaking with passion. I wish I had their passion sometimes. Even if they make a bad argument or completely disagree with my worldview, I admire them because they're bold enough to tell me they think I'm wrong.

Now of course, passion needs to be balanced with authentic Christian charity, otherwise I would be just fanning the flames of a heated discussion instead of providing both the light of truth and the warmth of charity; but after all, do I really believe in what my faith teaches, enough to take a stand when I see something opposed to it? Heaven help us if we're lukewarm, Jesus will spit us out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16).