A Major League baseball player announced his retirement, saying, “All of a sudden, that passion isn’t there anymore. Physically, I think I could still do it. But something that I loved my whole life and had such a passion for became a major, major job for me. It’s not like it used to be.”

What can we do when something that once energized us has become a burden? A career can be changed, but the deepest matters of the heart, especially our relationship with Christ, cry out to recapture the fervor that fueled earlier days.

The risen Lord praised the church in Ephesus for their faithful service and perseverance, but added, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Rev. 2:4-5).

Oswald Chambers reminds us that “the old writers used to speak of the Cross as the Passion of Our Lord. The Cross is the great opening through which all the blood of Christian service runs.”

If our spiritual passion has grown cold, let us remember again the great sacrifice of Christ for our sin (Heb. 12:3), turn away from grudging service and allow the wonder of His cross to rekindle our love for Him.  — David C. McCasland