I had an interesting discussion with my husband last night regarding a phone conversation earlier in the day that was still on my mind. I was struck by the passion the person on the other side of the phone possessed. Her passion was contagious.
My husband commented that I have always been drawn to passionate people, which is true. A person with passion, though flawed as we all are, has the innate ability to live through the strength of his or her passion while allowing the flaws barely enough strength to linger in the background.
Passion is defined as “strong and barely controllable emotion.” Passion is also defined as “the suffering and death of Jesus.”
We are Christ’s passion. Passion to Jesus was synonymous with “crucifixion, suffering, agony.”
How nearly impossible for us to consider that when Jesus beholds us, He is filled with strong and barely controllable emotion. So much so, that He gave His very life that we might one day spend eternity with Him.
When the revelation of our fate outside of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is recognized and we choose to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, the byproduct of our statement of faith is one of us returning Christ’s passion for us back to Him. The wells of living water that flow within (our gift FROM God) can be poured back out (our gift TO God) as we allow the passion of the Holy Spirit to consume every part of our being.
The very purpose of Christ’s death was so that we might bear fruit to God. Paul, the author of Romans reminds us what Christ’s death means for us, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” (Romans 7:4)
Paul goes on to note that there are different kinds of passion, “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:5&6)
When we give our lives to Christ, our motivations and passions change. Instead of spending our passion for our own sinful desires, we desire to spend our passions for God’s Kingdom.
What is your passion? Is your passion being poured back out in service to God?
If your passion is running, then run as to the Lord. Watch how many lives you will touch when you allow the fruits of your passion to point others to the root of your passion’s fruit.
If preaching, then preach. If teaching, then teach. If building, then build. If running a team of sled dogs in the Iditarod, then by all means--run the race with passion.
If you are experiencing a season void of passion, I encourage you to go to the Word and read the Passion of Christ. Then, ask the One who IS Passion to fill you with His passion. Once passion’s fruit has reached its season of harvest, His joy will be complete and your passion will be contagious.
Stay the Course…
Sheila
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