This morning Craig Groeschel gave a message at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit that really rocked me. He talked about it. He admitted that he didn’t really know what it is, but he knows when someone or some church has it. You know when it’s there, and you know when it’s not. You can just tell when someone has it.
I used to have it. I used to get it. It was all that I had at one point, before my brain was filled with knowledge. (Not that knowledge is the culprit in my losing it.) But something has happened to me in the years since I had it. My life has become mediocre. My fire has cooled. My calling has quieted. Even my mind has become dull. I’ve become, as Craig said, “a full-time [minister] and a part-time Christ-follower.” I’m not in love with Jesus like I was six years ago. I’m not in love with people like I was. I’m not passionate about anything of eternal significance.
I want it back. I can’t move forward without it–I’m only moving laterally. I’ve grown cold and hard without it, and I want my heart to melt in the flame of God’s love for me and everyone. There’s nothing special about me without it. I’m not going to make a difference in the world until God brings it back. I’m a vapor without it, because it is the substance, the backbone, of my life in God.
Oh Jesus, take me back and take me forward. Bring it back–bring me back to life in you.