Passionate for Truth - Part I

Passionate for Truth or Fully Devoted to God

Introduction

We live in very dangerous times. It seems that what’s happening in our country and in the world cannot really be happening. It is almost like a bad dream. But, it is not as bad as it seems is it? No, it is not. It is worse, and getting worse, more than we realize: The apostle Paul wrote:
1Ti 4:1-2: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.
2Ti 3:1-4: But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
2Ti 3:13: While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Because of the perilous times we are up against, today I would like to encourage, and yet challenge you about devotion and passion for truth. I would like to impress on you the importance of being fully devoted to God with a godly passion and love that is evident in godly obedience by doing the will of God. It is this devotion and love for God through His Word that will be our light in the darkness in a world hostile to the gospel. Because, if you will, God will enable you to move forward and out into God’s will and do what is right. And that begins with having Christ in your heart and loving God with all your being in all of life! If you are a genuine believer, this is the challenge for you today. If you do not know the Lord, I pray that you may believe Christ, and make sure you come to know Him, because knowing the Lord Jesus is the key to true pleasure in all of life. Now, I have much to share, but I will be as brief as I can, and ask the Holy Spirit to work in your mind the truths we share today. But, allow me to ask you:

Where is your heart and mind today? What is your treasure? You will recall that Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We cannot serve two masters, the world and its money, and God. God alone must be our true treasure and our devotion. So, what are you devoted to? What are you a lover of? What is your ambition or devotion?

Will you sacrifice or even pay the ultimate sacrifice for God’s honor? Is Christ in your heart? Will you show it in full obedience of faith by doing the will of God?

Well, we might ask, first off, what is passion? I am sure you know, but passion might be described as “a stirring of the soul and spirit over something that we deem of value and worth.” It is what commands your full devotion and consequent actions. Passion is a strong, uncontrollable desire for something or someone. It is a longing and suffering over something or someone that is the object of one’s desire, longing, or full devotion. It could be the overtime dedication to something; or the labor, the struggle, to obtain, reach, or accomplish something worthy and valuable. This could be good or it could be bad. We could speak, for example, about the “passion” of the Lord Jesus Christ, which refers to His suffering and sacrifice in our place; for He was fully devoted to the honor of God and doing the will of the Father.

In the Old Testament book of Psalms, Psalm 42:1-4, the writer says (deliberate), “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?" These things I remember, as I pour out my soul.” This is a godly longing for God himself alone. Is this our longing today? Or are there “idols” in your heart?

Do you, do we “thirst” for God? This is a “metaphor” that pictures a deer that cannot get to the flowing stream to quench its thirst, and so he pants and longs for the water. Or notice also, Psalm 63:1, where David writes: “O God, you are my God; earnestly will I seek you; my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” This is the same metaphor directly applied in life.

Do we long for God like that, for the God of the Bible?

Please also notice, for example, Luke 24:32: “And they asked each another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?’” (KJV)  The word “burn,” here, refers both to the lighting of a fire, and the consuming of the object. In this case it was their heart within that was consumed. This refers to a full devotion that consumed them; implying a deep satisfaction, a blessed or happy state, an excited joy that lead them to proclaim the gospel, and the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead.

Is this your experience? Does your heart burn within you for the things of God? Are you consumed with devotion, love, and passion for who God is, and His honor? It is possible to have that! But, that blessedness only comes as you prayerfully read and study the Word of God; there is no short cut. What do you value as worthy over everything and anything so that you make time for it? Will you make time to read and study the bible? What is it that stirs you to overtime dedication or full devotion? It should be a passion that is the serene repose of a full confident, mature, and devoted, contented, satisfied love for God by doing the will of God from the heart in all of life.