What Passion Looks Like

Do you remember General Hospital circa 1979? I was glued to my television for that hour everyday -- and then to the telephone for more than two hours afterward; it was all my friends and I could talk about! Nothing -- I mean NO thing could keep me from Luke, Laura, and Scorpio. Remember the guy with the weather changing machine? Mikkos Cassadine. Remember we had an unusual cold snap for a week or two that summer? I was hooked! I stayed faithful to "my show" for two or three years after that, but eventually I woke up to the fact the plot was always the same -- just new scenarios and not so new characters. Besides, I was in my last year of high school -- life was calling. Even after all these years though, it doesn't take much to be transported back to those days: the excitement of daily cliff-hangers, the challenge of guessing plot lines, and the thrill at getting them right. People love passion and mystery. Well, let me show you what God's passion is all about.

Micah 6:5b:

"I, the LORD, did everything I could to teach you about My faithfulness."

My first response was, "Wow! Everything God could possibly do?! That's sayin' something." But, knowing the translation I use for everyday reading is a bit loose, I checked other translations to see how they rendered those words:

"So that you might know all the righteous acts of the LORD." 

Not exactly the same. The other translations seemed to be saying not so much that God pulled out all the stops in His effort to be made known, but that He withheld nothing; He desired to be completely revealed to His chosen people.

Well, I don't think either is completely right, or utterly wrong. What parent doesn't do everything in his power to get through to a child whose behavior is self-destructive? What lover doesn't give all he has to make sure the one he pursues knows just how special she is to him, and what he is willing to do for her? Why would God be any lazier or less interested than we? Matthew 7:9-11 talks about our Heavenly Father as the giver of good gifts, contending that if sinful, finite people will do whatever it takes to bless friends and family, how much more a holy, perfect God with unlimited resources and boundless imagination. Wouldn't that same God be extraordinary in the pursuit and revelation department? Wouldn't He pull out all the stops just so you would know Him -- all of Him?

Relationship with God is not some guessing game. We don't have to sit around searching the sky for signs, or reading tea leaves, or guessing the next plot twist. God reveals Himself and His will to us in a myriad of ways (His Word, Creation, prayer and worship, other believers, events, etc.), we just have to seek Him with all our heart. I tuned in each and every day to see what my favorite characters were up to. I yelled out to the television when danger lurked around the next bend. I talked with others and shared my thoughts; rehashed episode after episode. I would have moved heaven and earth to place myself in front of that television by 2:59, Monday through Friday. God wants -- will pull out all the stops -- to reveal Himself -- all of Himself -- to me. Am I seeking Him with the same passion? Am I tuning in through prayer and Scripture reading? Am I crying out to Him? Do I share with others and meet regularly with other believers to discuss what God has revealed to me or done for me as of late? Would I move heaven and earth just to meet with Him? Micah 6:5b tells me He would do that for me.