Do you someone who is a self-proclaimed “Jesus Freak”? Do you wonder why your feelings about Jesus aren't as passionate? While we may not all be wired to be "freaks" for Jesus, we see in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. What does that look like? What does it mean to love God with everything in us and with every part of us? How do we get a passion for Jesus?
You can’t have a passion for someone or something you know nothing about. So get to know Jesus! Take time each day to read a bit of the Bible; just pick one part and really take time to study it. Maybe start with Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John because those are the stories of Jesus' life and teaching. Discover what Jesus said while He walked the earth, see how He interacted with people around Him, and find out what the gospel means for you personally. When you get to know Jesus, your love for Him will grow all the more. Giving Him time in your life is key to strengthening your relationship with Him.
When we're growing closer to a friend or falling in love, we're in constant communication with the other person. It's hard to develop love for someone you don’t talk to on a regular basis. It's the same way with God! We talk to Him through prayer, and He talks to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word, the Bible.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, believing He died and rose again for the forgiveness of your sin, you started up a relationship with God (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 1 John 3:1). Just like you have a relationship with your friends, family, or significant other, God wants the same kind of close relationship with you. He wants to talk to you, and He wants you to talk to Him (Jeremiah 33:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Communication is essential for growing as children of God and discovering more of who God is.
You know how when you love a certain team or movie franchise or book series, you can get a thrill of excitement from being around like-minded people? Being around other believers who are already passionate about Jesus can help spur us on. Proverbs 27:17 tells us, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." We tend to become like the people we’re around, and when we’re around people who share the same passions as we do, we're likely to grow in that passion too.
Find a youth group and a local, Bible-teaching church and begin to grow in your love for Christ with them. Serve, pray, and study the Bible with them. Let their passion for Jesus influence you in positive ways and make your passion for Him stronger.
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." —Matthew 6:24
Jesus says we cannot serve two masters, which means that we can't be 100% dedicated to more than one thing. (That's not how math works!) Either our heart’s "all in" on Jesus, or our heart’s all in on something else. Okay, yes, we can love Jesus with our whole hearts and love other things too, but those things should never be in competition with our love for Him. Jesus should always come first. (Also see: What is idolatry?)
Because we live in a fallen world, sin and its lures will always try to captivate our attention and passion (Romans 7:7-8:1; 1 Peter 5:8). Keep your other passions and deep interests in check, never allowing them to become idols that steal away time and energy that is due to Jesus. That’s why it’s important to consistently keep working on our relationship with Him in the ways we talked about above.
If you’ve had a passion for Jesus in the past but start to feel it fading, don’t worry! That's a natural thing that happens to all Christians at one point or another (2 Samuel 11; Luke 22:54). If you feel it's happening to you, go back to what ignited your faith fire in the first place. Repent of any known sin that’s led you away from God (1 John 1:9), and ask Him to restore your passion for Him. He will delight in doing so every time.
Jesus is worth everything—every moment of time set aside for Him, every positive change that brings you closer to Him, every time you refuse a sinful temptation in order to remain faithful. Surrender your heart to Him—even if you can only do it a little bit at a time, just start there. Jesus will lead you into the best life possible. It will be challenging at times, but nothing on earth can compare with loving Jesus and following Him (John 16:33). It’s what our hearts were made for, and when we surrender to His will, we can have confidence that He will be with us every step of the way (Hebrews 13:5).
You can’t have a passion for someone you know nothing about. So get to know Jesus by reading the Bible (we recommend starting with John) and talking to Him regularly in prayer. Being around other believers who are already passionate about Jesus can help spur us on in our faith too (Proverbs 27:17). We live in a fallen world that will try to captivate our attention and passion. Keep your other deep interests in check, never allowing them to become idols that steal time and energy that is due to Jesus. We were made to love Jesus, and when we surrender to His will, we can have confidence that He will be with us every step of the way (Hebrews 13:5).
Stephanie is a 21-year old with a passion to see believers grow and become passionate in their relationship with the Lord. She is a lover of sweat tea, sunshine, and the freedom that comes from Christ. In her free time, she can be found singing, playing guitar, writing or jamming out to Hawk Nelson, Phil Wickham, and worship music. Her dreams are to become a worship leader and a published author, while living a life full of fun and joy that comes from the Lord.
