On April 2, 2020, I was introduced to the meaning of the word enthusiasm while reading a sermon transcript of Alex Montoya's "Preaching as a Dying Man to Dying Men" contained in The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership.
He defined enthusiasm as being rooted in two Greek words that mean, "to be in God," or "God to be in you."
I came across the word again later that same day when reading a biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day.
Enthusiasm is commonly used as a short-hand way of saying inspired or energized, but the word presupposes more than a mere rush of emotion. It implies that animation requires God. It declares that energy comes from another source and not from within. Inspiration is poured into us, not mined out from us. God in us is our energy. To be enthusiastic about something is to be infused with Theos. To have God in you is to be alive and enlivened. And the more your external efforts are aimed at God, the more enthusiastic you become. The energy He provides is meant to be given back to Him, so the more you pour it out for His glory, the more enthusiastic you become. To be enthused is to have God in you and having yourself in Him.
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