Monday, November 06, 2006

Passionate Love

I just read about a woman who later became the wife of a Muslim terrorist. As a young person, she was full of piety, often staying up all night reading her Quran. When her family found her in the mornings, she would be on her prayer mat with the book in her hands, having fallen asleep reading.

That woman was chasing a lie, but how fervent are we, who have the truth?

If we love God, we will love his Word. When a man and a woman are in the first excitement of love, anything that keeps them apart becomes merely an annoyance which must be tolerated. The necessities of life pull them apart at times, but their desire is always to be together, and one is never long out of the thoughts of the other. This is the kind of passionate love that Christ, our bridegroom, wants from us, his bride. Do we tell our lover that we're too busy, or too tired to stay up and chat? Do we go to a movie, or watch such-and-such show, and never think to invite him to sit with us and share our thoughts? Do we stubbornly try to solve all our problems ourselves, when nothing would please our provider and protector more than to bear our burdens on his own, strong shoulders? God forbid! Instead, we should hunger and thirst for fellowship with him. Embrace every opportunity to grow deeper in relationship with him. Passionately desire to know what he wants from us, and how we can please him more.

Remember your first love.

4 comments:

Justin said...

So true! And well expressed.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post, John.

Anonymous said...

Good post john.

I remember the first mosque I went to. The "hardest" part of it was watching a man with his daughter, who wasnt more than two, going though the motions of the prayers together [standing, kneeling, bowing, rising, etc]. She even knew some of the quran in arabic and participated as the quoted it... such dedication to a lie, but rain is enough to keep most christians from church! Christians today are not prepared to stand in the face of persecution.

John said...

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I agree, American Christians in general are not psychologically or practically prepared for extreme persecution.