Passion - Fruit, Fuel or Failure
When it comes to Passion - most of us struggle. Personally I don't like the Passion fruit. A bit tangy for me. Other times in my life passion ends up getting me in a lot of trouble....but passion is also the fuel we run on.
What do you need to me more passionate about?
What are you afraid your passion is going to lead to?
What do you need to me more passionate about?
What are you afraid your passion is going to lead to?
posted by Randy | 10:49 AM
17 Comments:
I need to be more passionate about people that I have interaction with that don't know Jesus. I sometimes get frustrated with myself because I get so caught up in the day-to-day that I forget people right next to me need God as much as those people across the ocean.
First off, I know that I need to be more passionate about my Savior. I seem to always want to talk about Him in deep intellectual statements. Sometimes, though, I just need to let the raw emotion of what He's done for us come out in my conversations and relationships.
Second, I fear that- outside of my relationship with Christ- my passions could create imbalance in my life. They have a tendency to lead me away from a big picture mentality, and they lead me to frustration that others don't always share my passions.
I think I need to be more passionate about meeting new people, and looking for every opportunity to show them God's love. Im about to move to a place where almost everyone is new to me, so I will get a lot of practice! But I definately need to be more passionate about it. I guess what scares me most about the passions I do have is that I don't konw exactly where they will lead me, and the unknown has always been kind of frightening for me.
I agree with nathan. I definately want to step up my passion for Jesus and let that passion show in my conversations with others
many things. but my two giants are His Word and the lost.
If my passion is truly following Jesus, then I'm not afraid of anything that will come. I'm more afraid of keeping the right passion than where the right passion will lead me.
I need to be more passionate about reaching the lost...my family...my friends. For some reason I feel like I have less influence on those closest to me...or maybe I feel like I have more to lose if they become frustrated with me.
I know that being more passionate about the lost will lead me to giving up things that I want to keep. As I care more about others my need to satisfy selfish desires is squashed by my need to give.
Nathan, I love that, "I just need to let the raw emotion of what He's done for us come out in my conversations and relationships." Wow.
So after reading all of the comments, for the most part, we all seem to want to be more passionate about people who don't know Christ. What are some practical ways that we can be more intentional (thanks Elizabeth) about stirring our passion for them?
The question might should rather simply be: how do you stir passion?
This is a fascinating question, because of a recent conversation I had with my girlfriend, Carolyn.
She made the point that as followers of Jesus one of the things that we should be passionate about is life.
Think about that for a second. Yes, we need to be passionate about Jesus and the lost, but as followers of Jesus if we're passionate about life, the life he's given us, the life he's called us to, the true life that comes when we lay down our own, then we cannot help but radiate him even more.
When we're having fun...laughing..loving life then we people can't help but turn their heads and think, I want that!
People are not just looking at our hearts, they're looking at our lives. They're looking at our attitudes and beliefs and perspectives. When we love the life God has given us, there's an unmistakable sense of gratitude that's contagious. Other people start counting their blessings. Other people begin to recognize God's grace. Other people begin to see the provisions in their lives.
So yes, love God. Follow Jesus.
And yes, love the those who have not made the decision to follow Jesus.
But don't forget to love life--the one God's given you.
I need to be more passionate about my friends that have at some point chosen a different direction than they were on. It's harder with them because they know what's right, they've just chosen to do otherwise. I need to be more passionate about my friends that don't have a clue at all they're living a life that is less than what it could be.
I need to be less passionate about all kinds of things (please don't giggle): my OCDness, 24, food, spending money, sleeping. The list goes on and on.
isn't interesting that when talking about our passions in life we went to the basic stuff - and not the point of the chapter - what about life are you passionate about....
as I sit here on this computer, I think about all of the parts it takes to build one. In fact, I am waiting for other parts to come in so I can build yet another computer. To answer P Randy's question, in life, I am passionate about technology.
It's funny, and it reminds of a quote from page 94: "...where she earns a steady income and health benefits to support her music habit." Her (and my) passions are so deep that they could almost be compared to a drug-habit.
I am passionate about cultures. Yes, I love meeting people from cultures other than my own. I find those people much more intriguing and exciting. That has translated into my desire to be involved in missions.
But something I'm beginning to see is that my passion for people cannot be based on cultural background. I must be passionate about people because God made them...and so they are AMAZING! I cannot simply look ahead to the lost I want to reach in the Middle East. I need to look around me right now. I think this is what must be more present in my life: a passion for people right now regardless of their culture.
I think there are two ways to determine whether something is either a passion or a passing interest: you think about it off and on for a long time (years), or you find yourself investing lots of time, effort, and money in pursuit of it. I personally believe that if you are in passionate pursuit of something that lines up with God's will for your life, He will honor and bless that investment.
My case in point was a trip that I took with my family to California in the summer of 2004. I had already begun to sense very strongly that God wanted me to minister to Russian-speaking people someday, so I arranged some visits to Russian-speaking churches while we were on our trip. About six weeks before we left, my contact informed me that I was scheduled to speak (not just visit) at 3 of these churches (in Russian, of course).
I scrambled to get something together with my language tutor, and prayed that the response to my speaking and interaction with these people would confirm whether or not my sense of things was on-target.
Suffice it to say that God allowed me to communicate beyond my natural abilities in all the churches I visited, and placed me in one particular chruch that really needed to hear some words of encouragement from someone born and raised in the United States. (I had to follow someone that evening who basically said that American Christians were arrogant and rude toward Russian-speaking Christians in the United States.)
The big life lesson for me was to risk more and trust God to bless my efforts. I have to remind myself of that lesson quite often.
In life, I'm passionate about kids, especially those who have rough family situations. I'm constantly amazed at the kinds of things kids go through today. I'm also amazed at how little it takes (usually) to get them to smile or lighten up. I want to be that person they feel safe and happy around. When I get to be that person for a child, to use maragaret's phrase, it makes me fly inside. It is wonderful.
I guess I'm very much in the same boat as Tiffany. Crystal Hill (my place of employment) has maybe been the biggest part of helping me realize my passion. Crystal Hill has two types of kids, the middle class white kids from Maumelle, and then the lower class, mostly black, kids that are bussed in from Little Rock. I found myself strongly pulled towards one group of kids. This group was always my favorites, they were the kids I wanted to hang out with and the kids I forced to hug me everytime they saw me whether they wanted to or not.
Crystal Hill taught me that I'm passionate about kids that aren't as well off as others. I still love the middle class Maumelle kids but my passion and my heart belongs to the other group of kids. One of my favorite nights of the week is Thursday when I get to go to Rock and hang out with some of the greatest kids in the world. They are what holds my attention. They're it for me.
Addison--I LOVE your story of the piano. I think it's so cool how even as an adult God can awaken passions inside of us. And I love your comment that that doesn' mean you'll be a "worship leader". Sometimes, I feel that within the Christian culture or maybe it's just American culture, we overread the signs. I like to watch movies thus one day I'll win an Oscar...do you know what I'm saying?
When in fact, we should enjoy the gifts God gives us...in all ways...
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