Like a deer in the headlights, I struggled to comprehend the conversation I wandered into this past Sunday as we gathered at Life Church. I walked up to a group of men who were excited about the upcoming deer season. I’ve never been a hunter, which has more to do with nurture than nature. Dad never hunted and my mother was the matron saint of “That-B-B-gun-will-put-your-eye-out.”
The only time I ever actually attempted to “go hunting,” I shot at a squirrel and killed a blackbird. I rested the barrel of the gun on a fence post to take aim at the squirrel, but just as I pulled the trigger an innocent sparrow swooped past the end of the barrel. It was gruesome. Covered with sparrow and feathers, I thought the gun had misfired and I was the one who’d been wounded! I wasn’t right for a couple days.
As my friends spoke of shot gun loads and tree stands, I wondered if they were speaking in an unknown tongue. I didn’t understand what they were saying; however, I did get caught up in their boyish excitement. I know these guys: They are, for the most part, understated men of quiet reserve. Yet in that atmosphere among other hunters they erupted into wide-eyed, fully-animated preachers of the great outdoors. Their hands swirled in the air as they took turns describing their latest buck-sightings. I envied their camaraderie.
And I was impressed by their passion. There was no guile in them—no bravado, just vicarious energy that transported their imaginations from a man-made sanctuary to a tree-canopied sanctuary. I imagined each of them was picturing himself crouched on a high ridge or perched in a tree stand, waiting for that breathless moment when it all came together.
We do get animated about things we’re passionate about, don’t we? And isn’t it impossible to develop a true sense of excitement about that which only moderately interests us? It’s those things about which we’re most passionate that stir up our energy.
As I reflected on my experience this past weekend—witnessing those otherwise quiet men becoming passionate and animated—I realized something about God. We derive our ability to feel passion because we are made in the image of God. So it is very godlike to be passionate about things that are important to us.
God, because of his passion for us, became a man—His name is Jesus. If you’ll allow me this comparison: Jesus is God becoming animated—not like a cartoon character, but as a man so passionate about us that He is moved to action. The Bible describes God as so passionate about relating to mankind personally that He animated Himself and became a man to live among us.
God is passionate about you! What stirs His heart to the point that He becomes wildly passionate and obviously animated? You do!
Listen to Jesus speaking about His Father’s passion for you and I:
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” John 3:16
Read Ron’s column, Simple Faith, each Saturday on the Faith Page (page 3) of the Lancaster Eagle Gazette, or visit www.lancastereaglegazette.com.