Follower or Imitator - Where Is Your Passion?

What makes you burn?

Passion. What images strike your mind when you hear that word? Is it the intense pull to excel in a certain hobby or talent? Is it an emotion that arises in human relationship? Is it the driving force behind what you achieve- what you do?

By definition, passion is “the state of the mind when it is powerfully acted upon and influenced by something external to itself; the state of any particular faculty which, under such conditions, becomes extremely sensitive or uncontrollably excited”. This is often expressed in emotional forms- passions of love, hate, jealously, wrath, ambition, fear, etc.

For the disciples of Jesus, every one of these emotions raised their heads during the three years he walked with them on earth, and every day of their lives after His ascension. We see Peter rise up in anger against the Roman guards to defend the Lord, but we also see him cower in fear before the crowds, denying he even knew Jesus. We see James and John vie for position in heaven, driven by ambition, but we also know John as the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, speaking of the deep intimacy they shared.

How do we relate to God? Do we approach Him with fear and trembling, in awe and wonder of His majesty, or do we take an ambivalent sense of ease as we relate to Him, assuring ourselves that we are His children- His chosen people- and that is enough?

Have you ever been filled with passion? Have you burned so deeply within your soul about something that you felt as though you may just explode? With anger? With love? With fear?

The truth is, Jesus is well versed in every emotion that we experience. He was fully God and fully man. He was tempted in every manner, and yet knew no sin. To be tempted in every manner, He would have faced the depth of every human emotion, and dealt with it in the fullness of His divinity.

To follow Him is to know passion. To passionately follow Him is to be consumed. To be single-minded and in constant pursuit of who He is. To become more and more like Him every moment. In every situation we face, every trial that comes to us. We desire to grow more like Him- so that our response to these situations becomes more Christ like. As imitators of Christ, we must study Him. This is what the disciples did as they walked with Him on the earth. They went from one situation to another and marveled at His approach. 

For example, when James and John seethed with passionate anger towards the Samaritan unbelievers in Luke 9:51-55, coming to a village who did not receive Jesus- they wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn them up. Jesus rebuked them, saying “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

They acted wrong in their passion- just as Peter responded incorrectly towards the Roman soldier in the garden, and was rebuked by Jesus for not seeing the deeper enemy. We must learn to tame our passions, to be led by the Holy Spirit- so that we will “know what manner of spirit we are”. We do not want to be led by our human emotions and passions; they are deceptive and can lead us into wickedness, darkness, and despair. The passion that comes from the Lord is holy, reverent, and always seeks to save and bring restoration. Just as Jesus told James and John- he did not come to destroy men, but to save them.

The passion of Christ was just that- to save. To restore. To redeem. He was single-minded in His pursuit of that. He took that passion all the way to the cross- to the very last moment when He committed His spirit into the Father’s hands. 

Every moment of His life on this earth was spent in reckless abandonment to that call - to that purpose. He sought to share and instill that same passion into those who followed Him in His earthly ministry, and He still seeks to instill that in us today.

Questions:

1.   What areas do we see passion come alive in us today?

2.   How are we sharing our passion with others? Is it helping to bring others closer to God or pushing them farther away?

3.   What can we do to allow God to “tame the passion” in our lives, and allow His spirit to infiltrate our lives? How can we share this same passion with others to encourage them to surrender to a deeper walk with the Lord themselves?

Scriptures to Consider:

Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Jeremiah 20:9 “There is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”

Luke 24:32 “And they said to one another, “Did our heart not burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?”

Matt 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Eph 6:18 “Praying at all time in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication, to that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”

“God loves with a great love the one whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible” – William Booth