The Difference One Little Word Made in My Faith

O God, you are my God;
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1 (ESV)

Once upon a time, I read verses like these and kind of wrote them off as something that just wasn’t typical for Christians. While I talked about God’s love a lot, I didn’t exactly feel it like that—but I dutifully did all that I thought God expected of me. I chose to honor Him, trust Him, and worship Him.

After all, doesn’t the Bible talk about a sacrifice of praise? Aren’t we commanded to love—no matter how we feel? A part of me desperately wanted to thirst for God, but a part of me also thought I was experiencing a full Christian life and shouldn’t be thinking there was more to it.

Then 28 years ago, when I met my husband, Charlie, I discovered that he had that same IN LOVE passion for God that the writers of the Bible expressed.

I didn’t understand how we both believed in the same God, read the same Bible, prayed the same type of prayers, and yet here he was IN LOVE with God, and I just loved God—because I knew in my head that He loved me and that I was supposed to love Him back.

I realized I was missing the amazing enjoyment that my husband found in God. Charlie really meant it when he said that God was everything for him. I would say the same thing, of course, but I didn’t mean it quite the way Charlie did.

Even though I studied the Bible regularly, I would often put off reading it and do other things instead. That’s what happens when you’re not passionately IN LOVE with God. Your spiritual life can seem more chore and less joy.

Don’t get me wrong—God did speak to me when I read His Word. I was growing in my faith. But I just wasn’t growing in my passion.

Today, praise God that not only do I love Him, but that I am also passionately IN LOVE with Him.

What about you? Does your faith feel more like duty than desire? If so, take heart—God delights to awaken passion.

How did it happen for me? Next week, I’ll share the rest of the story