Passion: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction. a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept. - Merriam-Webster
The apostle Paul had a passion for Jesus Christ and bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. For the past few days, I’ve been reading through the book of Philippians. Paul was truly “intent on one purpose.” He was not driven to become a great man, a great business man, but a servant of Christ. Paul writing in the book of Philippians wrote that there was only one with him who had like passion. That man was Timothy. He writes,
“For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, and not those of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:20, 21
Everyone was seeking after their own interests. They were passionate, but after the wrong thing. So I’ve got to ask myself a question, what am I passionate about? That truly is a tough question to ask… or should I say answer.
In writing to the Philippians, Paul said, “I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus… reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That was his heartbeat. Paul laid down his earthly pursuits and rewards to follow after Jesus Christ.
Elisabeth Elliot once said, “if our object is to save others we must be clear that we cannot save ourselves. Jesus couldn’t either.”
2 responses so far ↓
1 Miracle // Aug 27, 2007 at 1:53 am
Once we answer by saying we are passionate about Jesus, then we need to ask.. “What does that mean?”
2 Shawn // Aug 27, 2007 at 2:54 am
Perhaps many of us seek things and not the Lord Himself. We are told in scripture to seek the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Paul gives us the example of a soldier. The good soldier does not get entangled in the affairs of life. He has a mission and he is set on completing that mission.
Perhaps Jesus sums it up perfectly… “seek first the kingdom of heaven and all the rest will be added unto you.” So basically we are to be about the Fathers business… and He will take care of all the rest.
Think for a moment about our goals… have a successful business, have a good marriage, make a lot of money, become this or that. What if we said, “I’m going to live my life brining the good news to this generation.” What if our heart beat was on mission for Him…. and along the way we because of our love for the Lord we were the best husbands, workers, etc….
We will be blessed when we find ourselves doing the Fathers business.
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