Awaken your passion for Jesus—because the real Jesus is NOT flat

A few months ago:

I’m sitting in a Bible class at church. A good one, mind you.

We open our Bibles. We read about Jesus. We talk about Jesus, verse by verse. We close our Bibles. We get in our cars. We go home.

 So why did it feel so FLAT to me?

Why did it seem like Jesus stayed right there, flat in the book, instead of popping out and engaging us and changing us and challenging us?  

I’ve always loved pop-up books. My favorite books to read to my kids were the pop-ups. Because every time I was about to turn a page, their anticipation grew. I could read the excitement in their eyes when I flipped to a new scene that could almost reach out and grab us.

I understand we can’t always experience the feel of excitement when we read the Bible (although often we can). We don’t want our emotions to drive our faith. We believe what we know to be true, not what we feel to be true (2 Timothy 1:12,13; John 8:31,32). Truth isn’t swayed by emotions.

But...often God’s stories ARE stirring. They draw out amazement from us. When we read about Jesus holding a dead girl’s hand and saying, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” and she does!—that’s not a boring and routine story (Mark 5:21-43). It’s incredible, and it should be read and imagined as such.

When we read of Jesus’ great compassion on the crowds, healing one sick person after another (Matthew 14:14), it should move us toward this man of great love.

Then when we reach the ultimate passion story of Jesus sweating blood (Luke 22:44) and facing separation from his father (Matthew 27:46) because of our nasty sins, well, this stuff is popping off the page and demands a response from every reader.

It’s intense and powerful and passionate.

And it moves me. HE moves me.

The person and truth of Jesus Christ move me. In a direction I’m designed to go. My desire to know him better is fueled by his passion for me. So my greatest satisfaction comes from reveling in the mutual love we have for each other.     

It calls for intentional celebration. God tells me so in his Word (Philippians 4:4).

My soul answers in response—“I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:18). “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

“Rejoice in the LORD”...“there is fullness of joy”...and “pleasures forevermore”...can we get any further away from flat than that?

More scriptures here:
“Awaken your passion for the Lord”