If God is our Father, what kind of Papa do we have? One of the common denominators of the modern Dad is that he is disinterested. There is a lack of engagement that comes from the heart. You can imagine the Dad who isn’t really listening to his child when they are speaking to him. The Dad who kind of “shoos away” his child. This is not what our heavenly Father is like.
Isaiah prophesied that our God is full of zeal. He wrote, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:7). In context, Isaiah was speaking about the kingdom of God and how, “the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end… to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
This passage tells us plainly that God, who Jesus teaches us is our Father, is full of zeal and accomplishes all of His work with zeal. The definition of zeal is, “Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.”[1] You can begin to see that our Father isn’t disinterested and unengaged. On the contrary, He has great energy and enthusiasm in His pursuit of you.
To what end is our Papa’s passion working? The Scriptures give us wonderful promises like in Revelation 21:5 where God says He is making all things new. Our Father is working passionately to make the world a beautiful place. We don’t always have eyes to see it, but He is.
The Passion of the Christ
It was at the cross that we saw the passion of God display itself so greatly. The Mel Gibson film was called, “The Passion of the Christ,” for a reason. It was at Calvary that God’s great energy and enthusiasm for us was openly manifested for us to see and receive. The cross is where God’s passionate generosity was poured out.
Paul asks a great question in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” The message here is that our Father passionately opened His heart to us through His Son, will He not continue to passionately give us everything we need in this life and in the life to come? The answer is a resounding “yes!”
There is comfort in the story of the plagues of Egypt. God was a good Father to the Israelites, zealously setting His children free from slavery. The same goes for us today, our Dad is zealous to destroy everything that holds us back. At the cross, He took a mighty and eternal right-hand punch to sin and death, setting us free from the grip of the evil one. Our Papa is the most passionate Person in the universe.
He is like Liam Neeson in the movie Taken. Upon finding out that his daughter was taken hostage, he called the kidnapper and told him with full intensity, “I will find you and I will kill you.” Our heavenly Father said the same thing once we became enslaved to the evil one. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The Father manifested His love for us in His Son at the cross and disarmed every power and principality set against us (Colossians 2:15).
Our Father continues to be passionately for us to this very day. He passionately continues the good work He started in us and will continue to do so until the day of His Son, Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). Our Dad is shaking everything that can be shaken in order to reveal His glory and goodness to the whole world.
Isaiah 42:13 says that God shouts with a war cry in His zeal. This is intended to make us feel incredibly safe as we trust in His love for us. Nothing will stop Him from keeping us in victory. Our Father is the One who passionately looks for the lost sheep, yelling out for him in love, not stopping until He finds him.
We are often prodded at by teachers to “be passionate for God.” But you will never be passionate for God until you realize how passionate He is for you. It’s the same principle as when John wrote in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” Papa is more passionate for you than you will ever be able to comprehend.
Our Father loved us in the fullness of His passion and zeal before the world began. Before we were born He already committed to being fully passionate about our complete eternal salvation. Rest in Papa’s passion and let it empower you to know you are His beloved son or daughter, and nothing can separate you from His passionate love.
[1] English Oxford Dictionary, “Zeal,” (Available online at http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zeal).