Passion. Everyone has it. We love someone or something, we pursue a sport or hobby or person. We have a desire that feels like suffering unless we are engaged in finding joy in the object of our passion.
Consider some Scripture for a moment:
Psalm 42:1,2
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 63: 1-5
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Can you feel the passion? Can you taste the joy?
Now compare these passages:
Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Joshua 7:20, 21
Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Can you see the passion? Can you taste the… disappointment, fear, shame? … no joy in sight for these passionate people.
Everyone has a passion for something. It is where we have decided joy is to be found. We will pursue something to that end. If our passion is in God, we find joy. If our passion is directed elsewhere, we miss out.
God created us to be passionate. The plan of God is that we would be passionate about knowing and loving him and then make a life style out of that love. This is where joy is to be found in God’s economy.
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11)
Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. (Psalm 43:3,4)
It seems clear that if we are going to protect our joy, we will need to protect our passions. Passions, like vectors, have magnitude and direction. As such, passions can become misdirected and weak. Passions directed toward God and lived out “full bore” result in joy unspeakable.
This Sunday morning we will be looking deeper into joy, and passion, and how to protect those valuable treasures. In fact, we will look at how to increase the magnitude and focus the direction of our passion so that all God wants us to experience can be ours.
Yes it’s Father’s day and Dads need to protect their joy.
Imagine, finding joy though loving God and others. That’s something to get passionate about.
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Submitted by Pastor Keith, 7:59 am
