Week in and week out we watch people rise and fall…people we attach massive amounts of value to. Those under 20, maybe its Miley Cyrus or T-Swifty, and those even younger Justin Bieber. Those of us over 20, the list just grows, from Tiger to Brittany, George Clooney to Sandra Bullock and Jesse James to John Mayer or the Dos Equis ‘worlds most interesting man,’ even Kobe and LeBron. Its been said that people adore stars because they chase their dreams and pursue them with abandon, sometimes to a fault that often ends in a fall from grace.
In some reality these people have become vicarious living for each of us…people willing to take a risk and pursue with abandon something they are both passionate and gifted at. Much is the same when we look at Passionate Christians and Causes. Many of us admire the jungle running missionary that cares for refugees or Blake for TOM’s shoes, to some of us they are heros and we hang on every moment, living from story to story or sound bite to sound bite hoping to find inspiriation…inspiration through someone else.
We are a culture of ‘Third Party Passion.’ People who are unaccustomed to doing things and taking a risk upon ourselves, trading them in for a sweet documentary, a Twitter follow, or a 2 hour thrill in front of a movie theater screen. But…Passionate Christianity, Passionate Christianity has a problem with ‘Third Party Passion’…there is no such thing.
Tonight ‘Secondhand Jesus’ kicks off…and without hesitation I will say this…no more can we be those who hope for intimacy with a HUGE loving God through someone’s Tweets, Facebook posts, sound bites, or movies…This is a call to radical faith, an unafraid pursuit of a living God that called us to intimately know Him unlike anyone else in this world, and then love the lost and the poor. He preached an unafraid Gospel, that wasn’t safe…Do you want to know Him firsthand? or is ‘Third Party Passion’ sufficient for you?
live//PC
