What Was Jesus Passionate About?
March 2005
I did an exercise recently that nourished my soul and helped me clarify a vision for life and ministry. I read the Gospel of Matthew in a week’s time. I wanted to answer, “What was Jesus passionate about?” I now have several pages of answers and many Jesus passions to imitate. Allow me to give you a few mouth-watering passions of Jesus for your learning.
From Matthew 4, I learned that Jesus disciplined himself to study, meditate, be still, pray, fast, learn and hide Scripture in his heart. There was a rhythm to the way he handled his life that went from action to rest in God. Personally, I credit Jesus’s wilderness and life success in warding off the fiery darts of hell to his disciplines. Jesus was passionate about his love relationship with God. He orchestrated his time to nurture this relationship through the practice of the disciplines. These served him well in times of intense temptation. Resisting temptation was second nature to him.
Jesus was also passionate about training his disciples. His intense preparation of them included teaching, coaching, spiritual guidance, companionship, modeling, encouragement and providing opportunities to practice. He did this one-on-one, in groups of 2 or 3 and in a small group of 12. He preached to the crowds but he trained the few. Jesus was passionate about disciple making.
I offer one last passion. I was struck by the repetition of the theme of fulfillment in Matthew. Its frequency points to its importance (See 4:14, 5:17, 8:17, etc…) Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness is the best description of the Godlife now and in the future. Jesus said, “I have come to give you the Godlife and to show you how to live it as I do” (my paraphrase of John 10:10). Jesus was passionate about living the Godlife. He trained for it. Then he trained his disciples to imitate him. The result of this training enabled Jesus to be always passionate about loving God, others and himself. What he trained for in private he lived openly.
Was Jesus passionate about seeking and saving the lost? No doubt. Yet, this is not a full summary. For some reason, however, I was expecting only to find a passion for the lost. Instead I found that Jesus was passionate about the conversion of the lost, about the destiny of the lost but mostly about training the lost to live the Godlife.
What am I passionate about? The answer should reflect Jesus’s passions. Am I passionate about practicing his disciplines (habits of love)? Am I passionate about inviting and training everyone God gives me to live the Godlife? Am I passionate about the God who desires for me to live the Godlife fully? I am training to be.
The purpose of KNCSB is to make disciples of people everywhere. Together we are here to practice, live, invite, and train ourselves and others to live the Godlife. In the end, little else matters.
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Past Columns
- Praying When The Chips Are Down August 2008
- Summertime And The Living Is Easy… July 2008
- Does Your Soul Suffer From Neglect? June 2008
- Silence Communicates May 2008
- My Conversion Story April 2008
- Ceaseless Prayer March 2008
- The Christian Life: Singular Is Out, Plural Is In February 2008
- No Christian Left Behind! January 2008
- Church, We’ve Had A Problem December 2007
- Key Five To Spiritual Formation November 2007
- More Columns from Walking with the Master
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