Chapter 7: The Recovery of Passion

Read Chapter 7. Manning says the problem behind lost passion is inattention: a crowded life drowns out hearing God. He also contrasts two kinds of faith. A Christian who leans on Jesus and his love learns a first-hand spirituality, while most live on a borrowed, second-hand one drawn from someone else's faith.

The letter to Ephesus is a striking mirror for this. Jesus says a lot of good things about this church: "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance." They tested false teachers. They didn't grow weary. If you handed out report cards, they would score high. And yet: "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."

That sentence is sobering because from the outside, nothing might have looked wrong. A church can stay busy, careful, and sound and still lose the warmth of the relationship that started it all. Hard work and correct belief were never the center. Love was.

Notice the three steps Jesus gives: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first." First, remember. Go back to when you were most aware of being loved by God. What was happening in your life then? How did you pay attention? Second, repent, which means turning around, the same turning Jesus talked about with the child. Third, return to the simple things you did when love was fresh.

Here is where inattention comes in. In Luke 10:38-42, Martha is "distracted" by serving, while Mary sits and listens. Jesus doesn't scold Martha for working. He tells her that one thing is needed. Many of us have a Martha problem: a crowded schedule, a loud phone, a to-do list, and a quiet voice we have not stopped to hear.

The second-hand versus first-hand question is worth testing honestly. A lot of what we believe comes from a pastor, a parent, a podcast, or a favorite author, and that is a gift. But when the Samaritans in John 4 met Jesus, they told the woman who brought them that they now believed because they had heard for themselves. Borrowed faith can point you toward Jesus. It can't stand in for meeting him.

If you read this and feel nothing, or feel only flatness, you aren't failing a test. Dryness is common, and sometimes it is connected to exhaustion or depression. Consider talking with a pastor, counselor, or trusted friend. Passion often returns through small, patient attention, not through forcing a feeling.