A Joy And Passion For God And His Word

"When he studied, it was to behold the majesty of God. Thus, his sermon preparation was not primarily for others: it was first and foremost for his own heart. With the aid of the Spirit and a firm bent toward biblical authority, Calvin followed hard after his Creator.  And as he did so, the Lord crushed his spirit and fixed within him a fearful admiration of Christ's excellencies.............. Given Calvin's commitment to God's glory, how did he nourish his mind in the Scriptures?  How did he cultivate  his heart before God?"
~Steven J. Lawson in his book "The Expository Genius of John Calvin.

Wow! This paints a picture of the absolute perfect passion us as Christians have the ability to have towards God and towards His holy Scriptures.  I especially love this quote because it mentions both the fear and majesty of God-further meaning God's awe.  And I believe these things to be very important to the Christian life. -the fear of the Lord, and beholding the majesty of His total awesomeness.  If we as Christians had this same passion that we see in Calvin. -this passion that kept Paul going, this passion that brought thousands to martyrdom, and specifically this passion that is instilled in all of Gods people. It seems to me, however, that this passion is less aflame then in was in many earlier Christians. -If we could only light up this passion; if we could just show the world where this passion comes from.  If we could show them what it means to have our joy in the Lord; if they can know us as Joyous people-I can assure you we would be seen in a much different light.

And while we are on this subject of passion for God; I would like to point out, that as John 1:1 states "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." -So this does not just mean a passion for God; but a passion for His word; the Bible.

This reminds me SO much of a verse I recently read in Jeremiah.  This verse is the verse that stood out to me the most in that day of reading; and I find that those verses, the ones that fill you with the fear of God and the awe of His majesty are very important.

"Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD of hosts" ~Jeremiah 15:16

It saddens me to see so many Christians not filled with this joy; but it is a blessing, I assure you, perhaps one of the biggest joys of being a Christian.  So I would like to encourage those who are called by the name of the LORD of hosts to be filled with a joy and rejoicing for God; and, His word.



Note, this article is actually from my other blog, Raise A Light Project. And also,  please comment; its what keeps me going! Why write to produce good, if no one will read it and therefore it will not produce good?