moving target
I'm getting a ton of feedback from last weekend's message and this week's evotional so I continue to think about pursuing your passions. In all honestly, this weekend's big idea is really a continuation of last weekend. I think setting God-sized goals is the next step in pursuing your God-given passions.
I want to make a couple important observations.
I think passion is a moving target. They will continue to morph until the day we die as long as our hearts stay soft and we're tuned into the Holy Spirit's frequency. I think we all want to figure out the rest of our lives yesterday :) But we'll never figure it out because the target moves! I've developed some new passions in the last few months that weren't even on my radar a year ago! That's part of the game of life.
I think about passions the way I think about spiritual disciplines. Praying is breathing. Scripture reading is eating. I don't care how mature you get. You never outgrow the need to eat and breath. The same is true with passion. It's more of a process like breathing and eating than a crossword puzzle or math problem. Passions are too dynamic to be studied staticly. You discover passions by trying different things. Baptism by immersion.
I think our primary passion needs to be Christ. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The key to God "giving us the desires of our heart" is "delighting ourselves in him." All of our God-given passions flow out of our passion for Christ. The ultimate passion is the Great Commission. We all need to develop that passion. It's sort of like our dual-destiny. We have a universal destiny--to become like Christ. But we also have a unique destiny. There never has been and never will be anyone like you. We have a unique story to tell and a unique job to do. Each of us is called to make a unique difference!
So passion is a lifelong process. I think that most discouragement is the result of zooming in. I need to zoom out, take some of the pressure off, and realize that I'm in this game of life for the long haul (eternity to be exact). You may not have passion all figured out. The truth is: you never will :)
I want to make a couple important observations.
I think passion is a moving target. They will continue to morph until the day we die as long as our hearts stay soft and we're tuned into the Holy Spirit's frequency. I think we all want to figure out the rest of our lives yesterday :) But we'll never figure it out because the target moves! I've developed some new passions in the last few months that weren't even on my radar a year ago! That's part of the game of life.
I think about passions the way I think about spiritual disciplines. Praying is breathing. Scripture reading is eating. I don't care how mature you get. You never outgrow the need to eat and breath. The same is true with passion. It's more of a process like breathing and eating than a crossword puzzle or math problem. Passions are too dynamic to be studied staticly. You discover passions by trying different things. Baptism by immersion.
I think our primary passion needs to be Christ. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The key to God "giving us the desires of our heart" is "delighting ourselves in him." All of our God-given passions flow out of our passion for Christ. The ultimate passion is the Great Commission. We all need to develop that passion. It's sort of like our dual-destiny. We have a universal destiny--to become like Christ. But we also have a unique destiny. There never has been and never will be anyone like you. We have a unique story to tell and a unique job to do. Each of us is called to make a unique difference!
So passion is a lifelong process. I think that most discouragement is the result of zooming in. I need to zoom out, take some of the pressure off, and realize that I'm in this game of life for the long haul (eternity to be exact). You may not have passion all figured out. The truth is: you never will :)
2 Comments:
Another Markism: "ZOOM IN" and "ZOOM OUT"! :)
PM,
An excellent dichotomous insight you made...
"Our dual-destiny: We have a universal destiny--to become like Christ. But we also have a unique destiny."
The dualism reminds me of an old Jewish proverb that goes something like this -- man in his relationship with God sees himself both as singularly special to God(as if he were the only one) and as a minute being in God's infinite cosmos -- I'm drawn to the duality of definite/indefinite and I'm sure you appreciate the both/and :)
JJ
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