Passionate Faith

"You cannot be a Christian if you are cool. The world supposedly admires coolness and has made cool into a term of admiration. Not so with Jesus Christ. He is saying that unless your commitment is hot; unless it is passionate it has no relationship to Him."

Elton Trueblood's statement is compelling for Christians. Only a passionate faith can confront the disturbing personal and social issues of our time. Lukewarm lip service to the great promises of Scripture simply has no sustaining power, and churches which adhere to a lukewarm faith will continue to decline.

Theologian Emil Brunner states: "The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning." How else can it grow? The only way you know whether anything is on fire is whether it will start another fire. The metaphor of fire is used to describe our relationship with Christ. In the so-called Gospel of Thomas, found in the dry sands of Egypt, Jesus says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth. He who comes close to me comes close to the fire."

In this book, Dr. Gazzard seeks to inspire and empower individuals to grow into a passionate faith by sowing seeds of inspiration, drawn from his