Where is Our Passion for God?

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah” (Psalm 84:1-4, ESV)

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21, NIV)

Where is your treasure? 

Think about it. Take a pause and think about your life. Where is your time most spent? What are the things you absolutely cannot live without? What are your non-negotiables?

Family? Friends? Career? Your home? Your lifestyle? Your politics? 

Jesus? 

Your list is completely valid, whatever it is you put on it. Your treasure is exactly that: yours. You may put value on something that I don’t, and that’s just the beauty of different perspectives.

But Jesus does say to us that where your treasure is, is where your heart will also be. Where your values lie is where your passion pours from. The things and people you hold onto with all your might and protect as sacred, are where your soul is bound to. Ultimately, where your treasure lies is where your life is spent and where your eternity ultimately lies.

For Christians, Jesus should certainly make that list and top it by a long shot. If He doesn’t, it’s high time to take a look at your priorities and reassess your heart. We know that anything that ranks above Jesus, even good things like family, marriage, and children placed ahead of Him is an idol in our hearts. And it’s important that we keep Jesus as most important, guarding that place in our hearts.

For me, it was important enough to put it in my wedding vows. Yes, on my own wedding day, I stood before my family and friends and promised my husband that the only one to stand above him in my heart was the Lord. It was an important reminder not just to him, but to myself as well. To always guard that highest of all treasure in my heart and reserve it for my Savior. Because all too easily, our hearts can grow complacent in its own passion, and that complacency becomes apparent if we don’t continue to remind ourselves of God’s ever-present goodness and sovereignty.

I want my life to echo the words of Psalm 84. Every day, I want my soul to long for and grow dizzy at the thought of Him. I want my heart and flesh to praise Him, even those rebellious parts of me I have trouble submitting. I want to lay my all at His altar with grace like the swallows and sparrows that build their homes in His presence and depend on Him tirelessly.

And I pray that today, we would all be able to open our hearts to the passion that this psalmist praises the Lord with. 

Because if I can stir you up, you can help stir me up. That’s why the body of Christ needs each other desperately: because many times, we need each other to stay passionate. It comes back to that perspective I was talking about before. You may have a revelation that fires me up and vice versa. But if all we ever do is keep Jesus stored up in our hearts without sharing why we’re passionate about Him, we’re destined to run dry and complacent.

Too many times, we go to church and stand still as a statue through worship, never lifting a hand or opening our mouths for fear of what? Rejection? Embarrassment? Pride? All things that have no place at the altars of the Lord. Too many times, we put church politics ahead of scriptural, spiritual order and to preserve what? Man-made law? Comfortability? To spare confrontation or conviction?

The truth is, friends, if we want to stir up passion in the church, we have to be willing to put to death our flesh, comfortability, and the boundaries we put on God. Because God-glorifying, undignified, fervent passion for Jesus cannot break out when we are damming it up and dispensing it according to our own will. Revival cannot happen if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to operate. 

So let’s take stock of our hearts today. Because all too often, we’ll type “amen!” or “praise the Lord!” on Facebook statuses or devotion posts because it seems like the right thing to do, but we move on without ever searching ourselves to see if we are the ones who should be convicted. 

I want Jesus. I hunger and thirst to be in deep currents of His presence. I long to be in community with people who long and faint for the same thing. I am desperate to dwell at His altar and come alongside like-minded Christians who are equally desperate for the same. 

So if that’s you today, pray with me. Reach out and let’s stir each other up. Not just for the optics or the attention on a public forum, but because maybe my words stirred up a hunger and a longing for you as well. Let’s hold each other accountable to not be shallow Christians, but to be passionate for the Lord together in a genuine way. 

Let the treasure of your heart be Jesus, friend, and share that treasure with someone who needs it desperately, not just as the lost, but as a brother or sister in Christ who needs some of your fire.

Dear Lord,
I thank you for always reaching out to your people. I thank you that you are a God that brings us close daily and reminds us to build our lives on you, the unshakable, ever-present Rock. Help us to stir each other up as the body of Christ and renew our passion for you. Let us be a spark for each other, not a damper. Show us the places we have not submitted to your will and break down the roadblocks we’ve put up that have taken away from our relationship with you. 
Breathe new fire in us today and make us unafraid to share it and bring our church communities back to your altars in praise.
I love you, Lord,
Cortney