Day 16: "Passionate Love for Christ"

Our Bibles are full of examples of men and women who loved and defended God with a passion. Let’s take time to think of a few of them today.

Read I Samuel 17:26-45. David, at the time just a young man, was indignant that Goliath, an uncircumcised Philistine, was being allowed to defy Israel and the armies of the Living God. Though he was small, he had experienced God’s power in defeating a lion and a bear. He loved and trusted God and was willing to take on a much larger opponent. In verse 45, he says to Goliath: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” Because of his passionate love for God, he was not afraid to face his enemy.

Read Daniel 3:16-18. Even in the face of the blazing furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the image of gold. Can you imagine standing at the mouth of that hot furnace and making these comments, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” That is passionate love for God.

Read Acts 5:38-42. After having been given orders by the high priest and the Sanhedrin not to teach in the name of Jesus, the apostles continued. Now the same authorities are seeking the death of the apostles, but a Pharisee persuades them against it. So after being imprisoned, threatened with death, and flogged, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (of Jesus). Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” That is passionate love for God.

I met a man from our generation, maybe in his thirties now, with the same kind of passionate love for God. As a matter of fact the last time I talked with him, he was living in the Washington, D.C. as an advocate for persecuted Christians and advisor on United Nations foreign policy. This man, Joseph, grew up in Egypt where his Christian parents ran an orphanage and attended a high school with both Christians and Muslims. Every day at the school there was a reading from the Koran, and he was allowed to read from the Bible. On one particular day, he read a scripture where Jesus warned of the false prophets who would come after him. At that point, the Muslims said he had insulted Mohammed, and he became fair game for any Muslim to kill with no consequences. After school, some Muslims came after Joseph with guns, threw him to the ground, and threatened to kill him unless he prayed their prayer claiming Allah as his God and Mohammed as his prophet. He was terrified and admits contemplating their request, but ultimately, asked God to give him strength. He refused their request thinking that he would be shot as he prayed. Then God performed a miracle as he did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The young Muslims tried to shoot him, and the guns would not fire. After this experience, some of these Muslims became Christians, and Joseph said since that moment, he has never doubted God or His power. That is passionate love for God – and only as a high school student.

When I think of these men and the love they had and have for God, I wonder what I would do if put in their situations. Probably, I could never know the answer to that unless there, but I do know I am called to love God with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength and all my mind, and I know though I want to, I fall short of Jesus’ command. So I guess more than this being a devotion with all the answers, it is one with a question. How passionately do we love Christ? In the United States, we may never be called on to die for Him, but how does our love measure up? The Egyptian that I referred to in the story above said that every day the Christians in his country pray for the Christians in the Untied States that we will not be complacent. God help us to seek to love you with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our strength and all of our mind. If we could do that, all of our other problems would surely fall into place. God bless you as you grow more in love with our Savior. Remember the battle belongs to the Lord.

~Carol Genua