Holy Excitement

If we could but show the world that being committed to Christ is no tame, humdrum, sheltered monotony, but the most thrilling, exciting adventure the human spirit could ever know, those who have been standing outside the church and looking askance at Christ would come crowding in to pay allegiance, and we might well expect the greatest revival since Pentecost.
Dr. James Stewart

I've always been a big fan of Star Wars - it was released when I was ten years old - and I still remember the feeling I had first seeing the advertising posters on the London Underground. This week the trailer for the new Disney+ Star Wars series Andor came out. Watching the trailer takes me right back into the same set of feelings. It stirs something deep within. That boy-hood thirst for quest and adventure. The longing for a narrative that is bigger than self. As Luthen Rael says in the trailer: "I need all the heroes I can get".

This week I was also reading a biography of Bill Bright. In it, I found the above quotation from Dr James Stewart. It echos a prayer that I have been praying for these last few months. A prayer for holy excitment. The gospel is dynamite. Jesus is the most compelling figure in history. So why is that that for many, Christianity is dull? To live our lives fully for him should be "the most thrilling adventure the human spirit can know". In recent months I have seen glimpses of such excitment, in my own life and in the lives of others. My prayer is for more. For an upwelling of holy excitement that is contagious. For a new generation of people, of heroes, so sold out for Jesus that it shows in their every action. For the accelerating pace of revival, as everyday people fall in love with Christ and share that love with their friends.