I have been told many times that I have a great passion for Jesus that is very inspiring. I have also been told it is because I am a new Christian. Many of the Christians I know that have been Christian for a long time seemed to have lost that passion for Christ. I can see how being new into a relationship with Jesus can make a person feel very excited and giddy even. It can make you want to run out and share the Good News with everyone! Like any honeymoon, it does end. No one is going to have that lasting good feeling going forever. Just like a marriage, it takes work, commitment, and effort on our part, to keep things alive. To keep the passion fires burning inside of us.
It is the same for a Christian and their relationship with Jesus. We have that initial honeymoon period where we feel so in love with Him, and we are ready to shout it out to the roof tops. Then somewhere along the road that feeling starts to slowly fade and before we know it, we have completely lost it. We are walking around just like every other person who has let the world shape them, not God. And it is up to us to pursue Jesus with the same intensity that He pursues us. We cannot just hope and pray for that passion to return, but we need to actively take part in growing it.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation 2:4-5
How easy it is to fall away from our relationship with Christ. We forget to pray, we are too busy to read the Bible, we fill our heads up with worldy lies from TV and media. We find ourselves going to church because it is a great social time with our friends, and it at least meets the minimum requirement to fulfill our Christianity. Before you know it our hearts are becoming hardened to His Word. The Holy Spirit’s convictions are going ignored, and the things we once removed from our lives because of His conviction we are slowly adding back in. It is so much easier to be like everyone else. Why be set apart or different? Why speak out for God and His Word?
A comfy Christian life seems to be the pursuit of so many Christians now. It is a routine, and lifestyle, a habit. It is not something that penetrates us to the core of who we are. We would not go out of our way to ask a brother or sister if they need prayer. Or to go up to the homeless person and pray for them as well as give them some change. Or to smile at everyone we meet, letting the light of Christ through. Or worse yet, we store up bitterness and resent among our own church family, letting petty things chip away at us. What does the world see when it looks at you? Does it see a person who is a full of love and light, hope and faith? Or another selfish person beat down by the world.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
It can happen to the best of us. We are all susceptible to the dangers of falling away from our relationship with our Savior. Even I, the new Christian, have experienced it. More than once. It is a scary thing to realize I haven’t even prayed in months. Or that when I pick up the Bible and try to read it, not one word makes sense to me. Or that all the negative influences I have fought to remove from my life have started creeping back in. We must always be on guard. Satan wants nothing more than to find is in our comfy cozy place, where we are just going through the motions, just trying to get through each day. Because then we are vulnerable to his attacks to bring us further away from God. It is his only mission here in this world.
We must work in partnership with God to grow a strong relationship with Him. Putting Him first, above all else. Everything else, even family, friends, work. Everything. We must trust Him and put total faith in Jesus, that He is taking care of us, working all things for the good of those who love Him. We must set aside time to read the Bible daily, making it a priority. Even five minutes, is better than nothing. Even one verse memorized, is better than a chapter read and not understood. Make a prayer list and devote yourself to pray over it. I have a list on my smart phone and when a prayer is answered I check it off. I pray for things important to me, things I need, and people I know that need prayer. It is unbelievable how great it can feel to pray for others. And even better when you pray for those people who you can’t get off your mind because they have made you angry or upset somehow. Maybe God has placed those people in your life exactly because they need your prayer. 
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12
As Christians we need to stand up and be examples of Godliness in a godless world. We need to let Christ work through us and in us in every circumstance we are in. Even the mundane. You can show love and kindness to others in so many ways. While driving, while running errands, at work, at home. During your drive time, or while you are during household chores, you can listen to the Bible. You can post scripture on sticky notes around your house or work. You can set aside your time in the shower to pray for others. Where there is a will, there is a way. We do not have to sit down and let life have victory over us, when Jesus sacrificed everything to give us victory over the world.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4
Never take for granted the wonderful freedom you have been granted as a child of God. Never forget that you were once dead in your sin, and an enemy of God – even those of you who became a Christian as a child. You have a precious gift – you have been hand-picked by God to a life of purpose. You do not have to live still enslaved to sin. So many others are living far away from Jesus and have no idea who He is. They have no hope, nothing to put their faith into, just despair and suffering all their lives. They don’t even know the life they are missing. But if they could just see it in us. If they could get a glimpse of God’s love through us, to see what a life lived for Jesus can do, think how their lives could be changed.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galations 5:1
God isn’t asking for perfection from us. He is not telling us to follow a certain set of rules, or be a certain way. But what He is asking is for all of us. Jesus came to earth as a helpless baby and gave His life to pay your debt. He has given you all of His love and poured out blessings on your life. He has saved you from darkness and death. And He deserves all of you. All of our love, all of our devotion, all of our life. Are you willing to step out and be bold and courageous and live your life for Jesus?
