Hearing From God Through the Bible--Life with God Series

            When I graduated from high school, I walked across the stage with people who were my best friends in the whole world. Some of them I had known since I was in kindergarten, and I had so many great memories with them. On that day, I couldn’t have even imagined that just one year later, I would have very little contact with most of those people.

            That’s how it goes for many people with their high school friends, and it’s all because communication dies off. When you were in school together, it didn’t take any effort at all to communicate. You saw them every day, you were in the same classes and activities together, and so you were always communicating.

            But after graduation, you may have gone to different schools; you now lived in different places. All of a sudden, communication took effort. You didn’t just run into each other anymore, so now you had to initiate communication if it was going to happen. And for many people, that communication with their high school friends slowly fades away, and the depth of those relationships goes with it.

            This is a principle that’s as certain as death and taxes – if you don’t communicate with someone on a regular basis, the depth of your relationship with them will disappear. Communication is the heartbeat of a relationship, and when that heartbeat grows weak, the relationship will atrophy and eventually die.

            A lack of communication with God is likely the main reason why many Christians do not enjoy the close bond with God that they would like to have. Now last week, we learned that the main way in which God has made himself known to us was by sending Jesus into the world. And today, the way that we get to know Jesus is by reading about his teachings and actions in the Bible. So God’s channel of communication to us today is the Bible. If we want to communicate with God, we must hear what he has to say in the Bible.

            Today, I’d like to show you what kinds of ideas and information God communicates to us in the Bible. We have a great summary of these ideas in 2 Timothy 3:16, and alongside that verse I’m going to bring in numerous statements from Psalm 119—a psalm that is all about the Word of God.

What kinds of ideas does God communicate to us in the Bible?

            2 Timothy 3:16 is one of the most important verses you will ever read about the Bible. It is the Bible’s testimony about itself, we might say, and the last part of the verse gives us a helpful word picture for understanding what it is that God communicates to us in the Bible. Let’s read this verse, and then we’ll focus on each of the four parts of this word picture [READ 2 Tim. 3:16].

            The picture here is that in the Bible, God reveals to us the proper path to follow in life. He also alerts us if we get off that path and shows us how to get back on the path. Finally, he instructs us in how to stay on the path from that point forward. Let’s look at each of these ideas in turn.

Teaching

            In its teaching function, the Bible shows us how to think and how to act in the proper ways. It tells us the true story of how we got here, why we are here, and what we are supposed to do in life. In this way, the Bible shows us the path that we should follow in order to live out God’s will.

            Psalm 119 describes this teaching function in verses 9-11: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

            Notice the emphasis at the end of verse 11 – if I want to stay on the right path and avoid sin, my heart has to be a warehouse for the word! I have to store up God’s message in my heart so that I can then distribute it to my mind, my emotions, and my will. Otherwise, how will my mind know the proper ways to think? How will my will respond in ways that are proper for me to act? Yes, I can always look up God’s teachings in the Bible when I have a question about them, but that’s a far cry from having those teachings tucked away in my heart to where they become part of me.

            College basketball coaches often talk about how young players think too much when they’re out on the court. The plays aren’t yet like second nature for them; they’re not yet familiar with their teammates’ tendencies, and so young players tend to make a lot of mistakes because all of that information hasn’t yet been internalized. They have to slow down and think about a lot of things, but the game doesn’t slow down for them, and so it forces them into a lot of mistakes.

            Isn’t that just how life comes at us? We have to make 100 decisions off-the-cuff every day! Life has no pause button, so when your toddler throws a fit and your temper flares up, you don’t have the opportunity to say, “Stop! Let me go to Bible Gateway and look up 10 verses on anger.”

            The Bible gives us God’s teachings, and we need to internalize those teachings in order to know them and obey them. Even if you never memorize very many verses word for word, you have to know the essence of God’s message – the gist of it – so that you’ll know how he wants you to think and how he wants you to act.

But we don’t always stay on the right path, so God also uses the Bible to express another kind of idea.

Reproof

            A reproof is a statement of correction; it’s a declaration that you have done wrong. That’s not always the kind of thing we want to hear, but if we have in fact done wrong, we need to know it! God is very kind to provide reproofs and rebukes for us as we read the Bible. He has accomplished this by naming sinful attitudes and actions in the Bible, so as we study the Word, we discover instances where some of our own behaviors are labeled as being sinful.

            Though it’s not always pleasant to be told that you’ve done wrong, it is necessary and it is very beneficial for us if we will learn from it. The author of Psalm 119 recognized this. In verse 67, he wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” He repeated that thought just a few verses later in verse 71: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

            So reproofs are to the soul what physical pain is to the body. Pain tells us that something is wrong; something about our physical condition needs to be addressed before we have greater and greater problems. Reproofs give us that same kind of alert about our spiritual condition, and so they are very good for our souls if we will respond to them properly.

Now God, in his grace, doesn’t just tell us that we’ve done wrong – he also tells us how to correct the situation. And so, we find that the Bible expresses a third kind of idea.

Correction

            In the Bible, God also explains to us how to get back on the right path after we have wandered off of it. And so, we read about actions like repentance, which is a change of mind about what we have done. When we repent, we move from thinking that our actions were okay to deciding that they were not acceptable – and in fact they were sinful.

            We also read about an action like confession, in which we express our change of mind to the Lord. When we confess our sins to him, we lay aside any justifications or excuses that we may have had for our actions, and we acknowledge that he is right to call our actions sinful. God encourages us to confess our sins by giving us a promise like that in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

            How wonderful it is that God has given us that promise! When we come to understand that we have sinned, we may be devastated by that realization. We can then echo the words of Psalm 119:28 – “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” It is the promise of God that gives us reassurance and comfort after we have gone astray, as the psalmist acknowledges in Psalm 119:58 – “I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”

            So once we have repented of our sins and confessed them to God, we are ready to get back on the right track. If we have harmed anyone else by our actions, the Bible also teaches us how to ask for forgiveness and pursue reconciliation with others. So we can leave that bad detour behind us and get going again down the proper path.

As we get heading in the right direction again, our desire is to avoid taking any more disastrous detours, and so the fourth kind of idea that God communicates to us is training in righteousness.

Training in Righteousness

            As God trains us, he shows us how to stay on the right path even when we might be tempted to go astray. Training in any endeavor is meant to teach us how to successfully accomplish the task that is set out for us. Training on the job is meant to show you how to do what you’ve been hired to do, and so you learn the computer systems that you might have to use or the techniques for your job, and you also get some instruction in how to troubleshoot problems that you may encounter. Training in a sport is meant to teach you the skills that you need to be successful and to train your body and mind for the demands of the game.

            God’s training gives us the “how to” of the Christian life. How do we follow the commands that he has given us? In the Bible, we learn about the resources that we have – like the power of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts that he has given to us, and the bonds of support and encouragement that we have with other Christians.

            God’s training also answers the “why” question about our motivation for obeying him. In the Bible, we learn that even little creatures like ourselves can bring tremendous praise to God as we obey him. We can also gain rewards from him for faithfully obeying his commands. By learning about these things, we come to see that we have tremendous motivation for walking down the path of obedience.

            As we learn about the how and the why of obedience from the Bible, we can learn the attitudes of the psalmist in Psalm 119. We can learn how to obey despite opposition from others – “Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes (v. 23).” We can learn to honor and adore the Lord as we see his promises carried out – “Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared (v. 38).” We can learn to love and delight in the word of God – “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (v. 72).”

            God communicates with us through the Bible, so make it a point to regularly read what God has to say in the word. Read it or listen to an audio Bible; memorize it or ask someone else to read it to you. Whatever it takes, get familiar with God’s teachings in the Bible, then continue to learn them until they become part of you – until they control the way that you think before you even think about it; until they direct your will before you even realize it. If you will devote yourself to hearing from God through the Bible, you will find the deep friendship with God that you desire.

How Do We Get to Know God?--Life with God Series

            A few days ago, my family and I were at home, being silly, and my daughter piped up and said, “Take a video and post it on Facebook!” For some reason, I was totally taken aback by her statement. It dawned on me that when I was her age, it wasn’t even possible to make that statement! Internet access at home was still about a dozen years away, and Facebook was even farther still.

            But today, we live in a world where communication is dominated by technology. Many people wonder how well our face-to-face communication skills are going to survive. That’s an important question, because while it can be very convenient to communicate through technology, there’s no good substitute for face-to-face communication.

            We understand this well in our relationships. FaceTime and Skype are great for what they’re worth, but you just can’t beat being in the same room with someone you love. Consistent face-to-face communication really helps a relationship grow deeper.

            This fact presents a bit of a challenge for us, however, when we start talking about having a relationship with God, because we can’t communicate with God face-to-face today. Even though we would love to, we can’t sit down across the table from the Lord and enjoy a cup of coffee together. We cannot choose to visit Heaven and see Him there. So how do we get to know God?

How do we get to know God?

            Since we don’t have the same kind of interaction with God that we do with human beings, God has revealed himself or made himself known in a variety of ways so that we can get to know him. The universe that he created gives us a glimpse of his power and wisdom. The way that he gives all people certain good and necessary things like sunshine and rain testifies to his kindness and love. At times, he has communicated with us through messengers like angels and prophets. But above all, God made himself known to us by sending his own Son, the Lord Jesus, to be a flesh-and-blood example or demonstration of what he is like. So more than anything else…

We get to know God by getting to know Jesus.

            Let me show you how a few passages lay out this truth for us. In John 1 for example, we read in verse one about a divine person whom John simply calls “the Word.” He writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Down in verse 14 then, we read something fascinating about this divine person: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            Now since we’re familiar with the rest of the story, we know now that the Word is none other than Jesus Christ. But notice what John goes on to say about him in verse 18: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father side, he has made him known.” This verse gets us into some of the deep waters of the Trinity, but notice that the emphasis here is that although we cannot see God ourselves, Jesus has made him known to us. Jesus was a visible display of the nature of God here on Earth.

            The author of Hebrews makes a similar point in the opening verses of that letter [READ vv. 1-2]. Then in verse three, the author gives us two word pictures to show us how Jesus was the visible display of the nature of God here on earth. First, he wrote that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God.” For a bit of a modern-day explanation of this word picture, think about the way that we see the sun with our eyes here on Earth. Space travel and technology have allowed us to get pictures of the surface of the sun from outer space, but of course, those images are not what we see with our own eyes here on the ground. We see the rays of light that have come out from the surface of the sun. The dazzling rays are what the sun looks like on earth. In the same way, Jesus is what God looked like on earth. He was the visible display of something that we could not see with our own eyes.

            Second, the author goes on to write that Jesus is “the exact imprint of his nature.” In our area, many of us have had the experience of branding cattle. I had that experience once with my father-in-law, and let me tell you – I never knew that cows could make noises like that until I got to help with branding them!

            When you brand a cow, the imprint that ends up on its hide is the same pattern or design that’s on the end of your branding iron. It’s the very same pattern, now imprinted on that cow’s flesh. In the same way, Jesus is the imprint of divinity into a human life. So Jesus displayed what God is like in a way that we could see it – by observing a human life.

            Now at this point, we run into another difficulty in knowing God, because as we all know Jesus is no longer on this Earth in the flesh. He has gone to heaven for the time being, until he returns. So if we get to know God by getting to know Jesus, how do we get to know Jesus even though he is not right now here with us in the flesh?

How do we get to know Jesus?

            Fortunately for us, we have the Bible, which is a record of his actions and teachings and descriptions about him. And it’s not just the Gospels that serve this purpose, even though they focus on the life of Christ. The entire Bible – from Genesis to Revelation – teaches us about Jesus. In the Old Testament, it is by way of introduction; in the New Testament, it is by way of description and explanation. Let’s unpack that statement just a bit.

The Old Testament is a grand introduction to Jesus, which is still valuable today!

            When you’re getting to know someone, especially in the early stages, is very helpful to have some introductory information about them. When you meet someone, if you already know that they’re a member of the Jones family or the Smith family, it gives you a head start for getting to know them.

            The Old Testament gives us all kinds of wonderful information about what Jesus would be like when he came to the Earth and what purpose he would serve by coming. Jesus himself illustrated this when he encountered two of his disciples very soon after his resurrection. He could tell they were having a very difficult time understanding what had happened, and in Luke 24:25-26, he said to them “Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then Luke adds in verse 27, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

            Now, Moses wrote the first books of the Old Testament, and the books of the prophets come toward the end. So from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of it, there are lessons to be learned about Jesus. These lessons are still highly relevant for us today!

The New Testament is a record of the actions and teachings of Jesus, as well as the teachings He communicated through His followers.

            You know that the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the actions and teachings of Jesus. But the other books of the New Testament are no less teachings of Jesus even though they have come to us through his human followers.

            On the night before Jesus was crucified, he explained to his disciples that he was going to continue to give them his teachings even though he would no longer be with them in the flesh. How would this happen? Well, in John 14:25-26, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” So the Holy Spirit would be a “stand-in” for Jesus, we might say, and He would continue to give them the teachings of Jesus.

            We see this same thought again in John 16:12—“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

            So as Peter and James and John and Paul wrote their letters, they were communicating the teachings of Jesus that had been given to them through the Holy Spirit. So from beginning to end, the whole of the New Testament is a record of the teachings of Jesus. As we read it, we get to know his thoughts, and we learn what he values and what he despises.

So we get to know God by getting to know Jesus, and we get to know Jesus by reading about his actions and his own teachings that are recorded for us in the Bible. But there is one final factor in all of this that we need to take to heart…

As we read, we must be willing to embrace the message to properly understand it!

            When you talk with other people and you’re sharing opinions back and forth, there are times when you can tell that another person really isn’t interested in hearing what you have to say. They might let you speak your peace, but you can tell they already have their mind made up and they’re not interested in giving you a fair hearing.

            It is entirely possible for us to read the Bible with that same attitude – and many people do! They’re perfectly happy to read the Bible, but they really don’t give it a fair hearing. They already have their minds made up about what they think is true and false or right and wrong. So when they read something in the Bible that disagrees with their own thoughts, they simply say, “Well now, I don’t think God would really say that, so this part must simply be the human author’s own opinion.”

            Biblical teaching is frequently dismissed in this way when we use our own thoughts to edit the Bible rather than allow the Bible to judge and correct our thoughts. To get to know God through the Bible we must be willing to embrace the Bible’s teaching whatever it may be! Yes, we must study carefully to gain an accurate understanding of the Bible’s message, but our attitude should be the same as little Samuel in the Old Testament when God was trying to talk to him. Whenever we open this holy book, our declaration must be, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!”

            In John 7, some of the Jewish people were amazed at the wisdom of Jesus’ teachings because they knew he had not been to one of their “Ivy League” institutions, so to speak. Jesus said to them in verse 16, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”

            Unless we are willing to do God’s will, we will never understand it, and thus we will never understand God. So as we seek to get to know God by getting to know Jesus through the Bible, we must be willing to embrace what it says – not force it to say what we want it to say. Only then will we gain an accurate understanding of what God is like, and thus have a better relationship with him.

           

A Passion to Know Him--Life with God Series

            There are certain relationships in life that only thrive when you have a passion to get to know someone. I think a relationship with a good mentor is like that. When you find someone you really admire, someone that you want to be like, you have a strong drive to learn everything that you can from them. You want to be around them and learn how they think and ask them a million questions to learn why they do the things they do.

            Romantic relationships certainly belong in this category as well. In those early stages of a romance, could you even imagine having an attraction to someone and NOT having a passionate desire to get to know them? That wouldn’t even be an attraction anymore! And many couples can attest that romance grows cold when the passion to get to know each other fades away.

            Your relationship with God is certainly a relationship that is worthy of your greatest passion. The simple fact that we are relating to GOD calls for that kind of passion from us! You cannot let a closer bond with God slip on to that list of “things I’ll get around to someday.”

            We all have a list like that in our minds, don’t we? Maybe you’ve had a desire for years to remodel your kitchen, but when it was time to either make plans or set it aside, you said, “we’ll get around to that someday!” Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, but every time you’ve seen a used one for sale you’ve said, “Well, it’s just not the right time. I’ll get around to that someday!”

            Only God knows how many Christians have remained infants in their faith because they’ve said, “I’ll get around to knowing God better someday!” Maybe when things quiet down a little bit around work; maybe when the kids are out of diapers; maybe when the kids graduate; maybe when I retire.

            We all know that song and dance, don’t we? We sincerely have the best of intentions about prioritizing our relationship with God, but we wait for a time when we think it might be easier to do than right now, and that time just never comes! The key is that we must choose to prioritize our relationship with God above everything else. We must assess the things we value in life and choose to put our relationship with God at the very top.

            God Himself summed up this need very well through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24. In these verses, the Lord considered a couple of things that we might be tempted to value highly, and then he reminded us of what we should prize more than anything else: “Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

In the rest of our time together today, I want to look with you at a little piece of autobiography from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3. In this chapter, he describes for us how he came to value knowing God more than anything else.

Philippians 3:7-11

1. A change in Paul’s “personal accounting”

            In vv. 5-6, Paul described the accomplishments that he used to value before he became a believer in Christ. He had valued these things because he thought that they all added up to put him on very friendly terms with God. Let me quickly run through this resume that Paul provides:

·         Circumcised on the eighth day—This, of course, was required in the Law of Moses. It shows that Paul came from good stock—he had faithful parents.

·         Of the people of Israel—They were the ones who had heard from God through the prophets, and they had his promises.

·         Of the tribe of Benjamin—The Benjamites had faithfully served King David from the very beginning of his reign, so this carried some prestige.

·         A Hebrew of Hebrews—Even though Paul was not born in the land of Israel, his parents brought him up in the language and culture of his ancestors—unlike some other Jews who were leaving those things behind.

·         As to the law, a Pharisee—He was a member of the strictest sect of Judaism.

·         As to zeal, a persecutor of the church—He had tried to stamp out the Christian faith initially because he thought it was an insult to God.

·         As to righteousness under the law, blameless—No one could find fault with Paul by the standards of the law, because he kept it so faithfully.

            But after Paul met Jesus in that fateful encounter on the road to Damascus, he began to see all of these things in a different light [READ v. 7].

            Paul used some terminology here from the world of accounting, and he paints a word picture like this—he used to think of those things as being like deposits or credits in his spiritual bank account. He thought he had great spiritual health, then, and was firmly in God’s good graces because his spiritual bank account seemed so large. But after he met Christ, he realized that those things had been more like debits from his spiritual bank account. Just as financial debt can hold us back from important goals, Paul’s spiritual resume had been holding him back, blinding him to the truth that he needed to be saved from his sins by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            So Paul came to realize that the spiritual resume that had once given him such pride had actually been a barrier that kept him from coming to Christ. That experience taught him that he must not allow himself to value anything as much as he valued getting to know Jesus well.

2. Nothing compares to knowing Christ

            Notice in verse eight how Paul looks beyond his old spiritual resume to take stock of everything in his life [READ v.8a]. Now keep in mind here that Paul is making a comparison. We know from his writings that he certainly valued his friendships and he valued his possessions – even though they may have been meager – but compared to the value of knowing Jesus deeply – well, by that comparison, nothing else had much value at all! In fact, if any of those things would hold Paul back from knowing Jesus better, he understood that he would be suffering a great loss.

            This attitude sustained Paul through all of the real-life losses that he did suffer. He did lose friends for the sake of Jesus; he probably lost family members as well. He speaks of these losses as we continue in verse eight [READ v. 8b].

            This is a very interesting statement from Paul, and I think what he means is that whatever he lost for the sake of Christ, he doesn’t want it back if it means he would have to be unfaithful to Christ. When Paul converted, he lost significant fame and prestige among the Jewish people and perhaps even significant wealth, but in the same way that you no longer want the trash that you set out on your curb every week, Paul no longer wanted those things because he now had something so much better. He wanted nothing at all to keep him from knowing Jesus better and better.

            Paul then goes on to tell us his purposes for adopting this attitude [READ v. 9, beginning in v. 8 at “in order that”]. Paul never again wants to think that his spiritual life is like a resume of his own accomplishments. Even as he grew in Christ, he wanted to remember that all of that growth came simply by trusting in God. On his part, Paul could take no credit even for his spiritual maturity or the powerful ways that God used him. It all came about simply as he continued to obey God in faith.

            And then in verse 10, we read of how thoroughly Paul wanted to know Jesus – to understand the Lord’s thoughts and attitudes and motivations and strength [READ v. 10 through “resurrection”].

            When God raised Jesus from the dead, he did what was seemingly impossible, and in our lives today, that same power can still accomplish things that are seemingly impossible. God can empower us to forgive people who have hurt us no matter how deeply those wounds have cut. He can reconcile us with people about whom our world might say, “There’s no hope for their relationship! It’s too far gone.” But God can do it!

            God’s power can help us control our inner desires and urges that will dominate and destroy us if we give full expression to them. Our world thinks that we will be psychologically harmed if we don’t let our anger erupt somehow or if we say “no” to any lust that we might have, but that’s because our world does not understand the power of God!

            Paul wanted to know that resurrection power by experiencing it in his own life as it transformed him and put to death the sinful desires within him, truly giving him a new quality-of-life. And then Paul goes on to say something perhaps even more profound [READ v. 10 from “and may share”].

            We love all that talk about resurrection power, but talk of suffering is a harder pill to swallow! But if we want to understand Jesus thoroughly, we have to remember that as the Scripture says, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And he willingly embraced all of that, so if we are going to know him well, we have to learn why he was willing to endure those sufferings in obedience to God the Father, and we have to learn the attitudes that allowed him to remain faithful to the Father through it all.

            Paul describes some of those attitudes back in chapter 2 when he told the Philippians that it was great humility that led Jesus down the path toward the cross. He didn’t view his powers and position as God as things to be used simply for his own advantage, but he considered our needs and set out to meet them even though it required great humility and sacrifice from him.

            If we want to say that we know Jesus well, we have to come to understand why he so highly valued attitudes like humility and a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others. And if we want to understand why he thought that way and why he lived that way, we will never understand it through a casual effort. We must embrace this passion that leads us to say everything else is loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

            If I achieve great success in this world but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. If I earn unimaginable wealth but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. Even if I simply piece together a nice life for myself with my wife and kids and a steady job and a gold watch when I retire but I never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss.

            My friends, you will never get to know Jesus well until you decide that that is the most valuable thing you could possibly pursue in your life. Understanding him requires you to become like him, and the sacrifices to do that are great enough that you will never do it unless you decide that it’s worth it. So decide today that everything else is like a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. Put that kind of passion in your relationship with him because that relationship will never grow without it!