A Passion for Barney
My kids used to watch Barney growing up. I could not stand that show! The songs, the purple dinosaur, it all seemed like too much. A funny thing would happen though. We would start watching it together, and before long I would look around to find I was the only person in the living room still watching the show! (All parents can relate to this!)
Of course, I wouldn't have even turned the show on if it weren't for them. Funny how the passions of others can begin to bleed over to us.
As Christ followers, others see our passion for Christ. In time, our passion influences those who are exposed to it, whether or not they started out with an interest in spiritual things.
"Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, "We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth" (John 1:45, NLT).
"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" (John 4:29).
Live, Love, Serve Enthusiastically
Enthusiasm. What a great word. We use it today for everything from enthusiastically supporting a sports team, to enthusiastically enjoying a great steak on the grill. It is a word, however, which once had much more specific meaning.
According to the Free Dictionary:
The source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective entheos, "having the god within," formed from en, "in, within," and theos, "god." Over time the meaning of enthusiasm became extended to "rapturous inspiration like that caused by a god" ...
In other words, enthusiasm was concerned with a God-sparked passion or motivation, kindled by the very presence of God within. Kind of makes it tougher to think about sports teams and grilled meat in this context.
In the context of the spiritual, however, enthusiasm exactly fits the bill. We are called to live, and love, and serve ... enthusiastically! Motivated, inspired, and empowered by the God Who dwells within.
"Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Ephesians 6:7, NLT).
Keeping the Torch Lit
“The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique.* The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit.”
*Lampadedromia was a torch relay race which was, at least in part, the inspiration for the modern Olympic torch-lighting relay ritual first instituted in Berlin, 1936.
Stowell concludes, “I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him.”
It's one thing to finish, it's quite another to finish with your torch still lit. This requires faithfulness, not just in action, but in intimate relationship with Christ. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent'” (Revelation 12:1-7).
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