Down on Passion

You have given me only a short life;
my lifetime is like nothing to you.
Everyone’s life is only a breath. (Psalm 39:5)

Are you living with the reality that life is short? Do you see yourself as a pilgrim passing through, or, do you see yourself as a permanent resident?

The psalmist says we have given only a short life…even 100 years in all of history is short. How are you going to use it?

One of the ways Jesus lived His life was by living passionately.

Passion is the driving force behind great art, great music, great business, great anything. It drives athletes to break records and scientists to find cures. Nothing great ever happens without passion.

In the Message version it says “Love the Lord your God with all your passion…” (Mark 12:30)

Later it says “Never be lacking in zeal or passion, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11).

Key word is keep. We have to work at it or we can lose it. And truthfully life’s worries, cares, and problems have a way of pouring water all over our passion.

Do you sometimes feel like the fire has dwindled? You can fire it up again….

Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” If you are going to rediscover passion you are going to need to do some things.

Take a lesson from the friends trying to get the paralytic to Jesus:

” four men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, He said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven … But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....’ He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’ ” Luke 5:18-20; 24-26 (NIV)

Randy Pausch in his book “The Last Lecture” writes about road blocks saying “The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people. They give us a chance to see how badly we want something.” It is one of the reasons scriptures teach “never be lacking in passion.”

These guys reflect passion by doing something drastic. The crowd was a road block so they went to the roof and tore a hole in it. This was perhaps their only opportunity to get their friend to Jesus and they weren’t going to be stopped. If we keep asking the question “how would I live if I just had 30 days,” we recognize what is most important. Material things just aren’t that important compared to relationships. These guys tore a hole and put their friend through it. They said it’s just a roof. You can replace a roof, but we’ve got to get our friend to Jesus. They realized what was important. They were passionate about it.

Secondly they created a God space. They set the man down in front of Jesus amidst the crowd. That is an amazing thought, because of their creativity and flexibility they were able to gain front row access to the King of Kings. They created God space. Jesus often modeled this; amidst the crowds and demands he created a God space in His life, by getting alone with Him. He stayed in connection with the Divine to “keep” passion.

Follow His example especially (and very intentionally) when you are overloaded, overstressed, and over-committed. Get alone and wait on Him. God will begin to clarify what is most important in that moment. Prov. 10:27 says “Whoever respects (or reverences) the Lord will have a long life,” God is able to multiply our time as we put Him first.

Lots of times we try to control everything and when things don’t work the way we want we lose passion. Learn to expect the unexpected. His friends are expecting to hear “you are healed.” Jesus instead says “your sins are forgiven,” it was unexpected. In those days physical disease and suffering was strongly linked to personal sin. Rabbis would see a man in his condition and assume he had been very sinful. Jesus saw the inner healing that was needed even before the physical healing. The guilt, shame, and condemnation were probably heavy on him. Jesus in His wisdom first healed him through forgiveness and then healed the physical.

God knows best what we need. I like what the late Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, once said “God has not always answered my prayers. If He had, I would have married the wrong man several times.” We assume we know what’s best….we plan, we prioritize, we control and then life interrupts and we get frustrated and lose passion. At that point we need to trust God and quit trying to control everything (which is just playing God anyways). We weren’t meant to control everything. Learn to expect the unexpected.

Let’s strive to be passionate for the things that matter most…loving God…loving people and living it full out.