I HEAR you. I’ve been to too many services where the whole focus is on us, the Holy Spirit, the manifestations, the gifts, whatever, and hardly any on Christ.
The worship music and leading is more designed to be an emotional manipulation instead of praise to God. People have become experience junkies. They are *grounded* in that instead of the Word. That is sand.
So I am not talking about emotionalism or getting our experience fix. What I am thinking along the lines of is getting back to that first love and loving God with the passion that we have that is similar to that which we have when we first fall in love with someone. They are the center of all your attention. Your focus is on them above everything else.
They are the only one you want to be with. You think of them all the time. You can’t wait to see them again, and to hear from them. You are excited about the next time you see them. You WANT to do things for them, just to please them. That’s the kind of passion that I find missing in my life. It’s easy to get stuck in a spiritual rut of just doing what needs to be done to get by resulting in a legalistic, works oriented faith.
I am also still dealing with the unbalanced view of God that I was raised with that did not include personal relationship with God. He was to be feared as you just never knew when you were going to get zapped for the least little slip up. It was a fear relationship and not a love one.
So after 35 years of walking with Christ, it’s time there was a little more passion.
Sometimes it’s hard to be clear in writing. *I* know what I’m thinking when I write this stuff. Nobody else does. No offense taken. I just wasn’t clear enough.
And now I do, and I thank you for taking the time. :)
8-)