What's Your Passion?

February, 2006

by: Walt Bertelsen

Shortly after Christmas, some friends invited us to watch a movie. With some hesitancy, the wife said that it was a “chick flick.” But, she pointed out, it’s a wonderful tale of devotion and she thought I’d like it.

It was indeed the story of a man who was passionately devoted to his wife, who faithfully stayed with her to the end, despite the heartbreaking ravages of progressive dementia. Having watched their early love unfold on screen, and the man’s continued passion to help his wife remember their love, I began to wonder: why do they call these “chick flicks,” when they really depict the way a man ought to love a woman?

That night, I began to ponder: where is my own passion? Could I do what this man did? Could I, as a Christian man, match this Hollywood depiction? I should be able to love my wife with the same passion, fervor, and faithfulness as Christ. But I began to lament like Keith Green’s musical take on Romans 7: “Everyone I love, I end up hurtin’;” and to express his longing: “Lord, I want to be finally set free!”

To have these thoughts shows that I still have great need for growth in understanding and grace. So I began to review familiar steps to answer the query: how can I grow in passion as a Christian and husband?

I must be in the right place to see

I’ve been a believer long enough to realize that just saying, “I’m going to be more passionate” is a set-up for failure. I must be in a place where God can renew my thinking so that I’m not blinded by my own understanding, (Prov 3:5,6). Where is that place? There are two “places” mentioned in Romans 12. That chapter is much more than verses one and two, which speak of offering my body a living sacrifice (similar to Jesus’ command to take up the cross and follow). It is there, in a heart that’s right with God and dead to self, that I can begin to see things from his eternal perspective. That‘s the first place.

But I didn’t stop there; Paul didn’t. He brings us to the second place: this is the body of believers, the local manifestation of His Church, where we are members “one of another” (i.e., we belong to one another). It is here that we exercise the gifts God gives. It is here that we bring ourselves under the teaching of the Word, and, with time and growth, we avoid the pitfalls of past thinking and time-bound perspective.

Seeing Christ’s passion for the Church

Seeing Christ’s passion for his Church is a fire that ignites my own heart. Seeing his passionate love for me compels me to respond (see 2 Cor 5:14). Consider the following. Allow it to work in your heart in your relationship to Christ, to your spouse, to other believers, and to non-believers. Get His perspective:

That He chose me from all eternity means that I was in His mind before the worlds began (Eph 1:4). He considered me as part of His “other sheep” for whom He willingly suffered the loss of all, looking forward to the joy of being with his “many brethren” (Rom 8:29, Heb 12:2; Eph 5:27). This very moment He stands before the Father in my behalf as the sufficient sacrifice to turn away the wrath of God (1 John 2:1).

Christ’s passion is reflected in his view of this corporation of forgiven sinners (you and me). Consider well his perspective: You are the “Bride of Christ” (Jn 3:29): He eagerly sought and bought you with His redeeming blood. He paid the bride-price and anticipates the Marriage Supper of the Lamb one day in heaven. You make up the “Body of Christ” (Eph 5:30): He considers you and me and all those others to be a part of Him, and He has brought us together and designed us to work together to make the whole become like Christ. You (and they) are the “Temple of God” in which He lives by His Spirit: His residence.

Are you in the place to get His perspective? It will free you to love—with His passion.