Passionate Persuit

Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

I've read, studied, and preached this message many times.  Follow Christ, Identify with Him, Deny self.  Simple, and yet hard. 

I was at a Missions conference this weekend, and the first night of the conference, Kyle Idleman from Graffiti ministries in New York spoke on this very subject.  He said something that got to me, something that made me really think, something that made me realize I'm not as well off as I thought I was with my relationship with Christ.

Two simple words, "Follow Me", am I following Christ?  Most of the time, well some of the time, maybe?  possibly?  Hopefully?

But it went beyond that he talked about the "passionate pursuit", that's when it struck me.  Am I pursuing, chasing, trying to catch Him?

Not only am i pursuing, but am I doing it with a passion?  Is it what I really want?  Is it at the top of my list?

Think about it, when you first meet that special someone, we go after them and we do it passionately.  We can't wait to talk to them, we cant wait to see them, we miss them terribly, we would travel great distance to see them, we would do anything to see their face, to hear their voice.  We get antsy when we are apart from them.  We get excited at the very sound of their voice.

Am I that way with Christ?  Am I passionately pursuing Him?

Lord, Help me to..... Chris