One Pure & Holy Passion

A song has been in my head the last few days. It's a simple melody that so clearly expresses what I want my life to be about. Written by Mark Altrogge, "One Pure & Holy Passion" touches on spiritual desire, discipleship and the supremacy of Christ.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me on magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after You
To grow as Your disciple in Your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing You, my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after You
Lead me on and I will run after You

In addition to the glorious themes of the song, the lyrics call to mind a few quotes and verses:

"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth."
— JESUS IN HIS HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER • John 17:17 —

"Let this be thy whole endeavor, this thy prayer, this thy desire:
that thou may be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity,
follow Jesus only."
— THOMAS à KEMPIS —

“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness,
and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.
I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.”
— A.W. TOZER IN THE PURSUIT OF GOD —

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss
because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
— PHILIPPIANS 3:7-8 —

"I have one passion. It is He, only He."
— NICOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF —

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
— PSALM 42:1-2 —

“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.
In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die.”
— DIETRICH BONHOEFFER IN THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP —

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
— PSALM 27:4 —

“Has the world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
— C.S. LEWIS —

ESPN, Monday Night Football & Iron Man

I just finished watching the post-game show for ESPN's Monday Night Football. Stuart Scott, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young did the obligatory chatter on how the Steelers pummeled the Redskins, 23-6. Then, with the end of the NFL week 9, the trio started reflecting more broadly on the first half of the season.

They agreed that back at week 1, most people would have said the two teams with the most talent were the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys. But despite the high hopes brought on by all that preseason potential, Stu, Emmitt and Steve noted how the Chargers and Cowboys have turned out to be the two teams with the most unexpectedly disappointing performance. Evidently, athletic ability does not always a good team make.

That ESPN analysis reminded me of a quote by Robert Murray M'Cheyne:

It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.
A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.

This language of being an "awful weapon" was undoubtedly enhanced by my Sunday night watching of Iron Man. (Yeah, I can fly.)

M'Cheyne is one of my heroes. This 19th-century Scottish pastor has much to teach 21st-century ministry leaders, myself included. In an age where pastors face unrelenting internal and external expectations to be successful and efficient, M'Cheyne's words recalibrate our definitions of those goals. He focuses us on our calling to be like Christ and leaves ministry productivity to God.

We need words like this to free us from our captivity to the business-minded consumerism that has made the Evangelical church little more than corporate America's non-profit cousin.

M'Cheyne words are not only powerful and convicting. They are exciting! It's inspiring to imagine that I could be a powerful, awful weapon in the hand of God against the forces of darkness. By His grace, I can pursue holiness, being shaped into the image of Christ to wage war on the sin, rebellion and brokenness that distracts us all from the glory of God and the joy He intends for His children to experience.

So that's my prayer right now — focusing on Jesus and yearning to become like Him, not worrying about the abilities I do or don't have, but striving to be conformed to the image of the Son.

Lord, may I ever be close to You,
and may the fruit of my life be the result of our communion.