Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was interviewed in a recent World magazine. He talked about the years he spent in rebellion to the Lord and how he eventually returned to faith in Christ.
Tullian shared that it was hard to turn away from his wild life until, “I saw that God doesn't take away your excitement. He changes what you get excited about." His passion for living for himself was changed into the joy of living for Jesus.
Through the years I’ve seen the Lord change my passions. Some things have just become less interesting as I’ve matured in my Christian faith. Some passions have been redirected and others have been sharpened.
As a Christian I’ve always known the importance of reading God’s word, but it wasn’t until I reached a crisis experience in my missionary life that the Lord transformed my half-hearted zeal into godly enthusiasm. EVERYTHING was going wrong (it seemed) during our first few years in Cuiabá. I begged the Lord to change our circumstances or get us out of there.
Instead He had me join a Bible study with our pastor’s wife. It was an in-depth study that required lots of extra work. And the more I dug, the more the wells of living water sprang up into my soul. It was a precious time of falling in love with God’s word.
Two weeks ago I attended an inductive Bible study conference in Ohio. We studied the Bible for eight hours on Friday and eight hours on Saturday AND IT WAS FUN. Praise the Lord for how He reorders our passions!
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