The prophet Jeremiah fully believed that our walk with the Lord must be surrounded by passion when he emphatically stated in Jeremiah 20:7-9:
"O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted "Violence and plunder!" Because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back and I could not."Even though Jeremiah was constantly under fire for proclaiming God's word (Jeremiah 20:7-8,10), he fully understood what the outcome would be (Jeremiah 20:11-13), and thus kept on preaching and teaching God's word, no matter what the circumstance (cf. Acts 4:1-20; Acts 5:17-29).
Beloved, when we have the passion of Jeremiah, the passion of the apostles, and the passion displayed by those martyrs listed in Hebrews 11:32-40, we won't have to be prodded to assemble with the saints.
We won't have to be prodded to go teach the word to a lost and dying world (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). We won'd have to be prodded to give to those in need (2 Corinthians 8). We won't have to be prodded to send out and support missionary efforts (Acts 16:7-10).
When we become passionate about our Christianity like Jeremiah of old, the Lord's work will become an all consuming fire — the most important thing in our lives (Matthew 6:33; cf. Matthew 6:21; Luke 2:49). All other worldly things that we once deemed important, will suddenly disappear into insignificance (cf. Philippians 3:4-10).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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