A Real passion

Passion is a word I so often here now that I am involved in different types of ministries and things within the Christian church. I hear people so often say, I have a passion for Kid Zone, or a passion for Christ. I have always mentally on my own defined passion as a burning, yearning, experience I feel in the pit of my stomach concerning something (and no not the heartburn/gas kind) It’s the word that means that whatever I am doing usually I have some goal in mind as to how it is going to fulfill my passion or passions for things in this life.

So I looked up the word ‘passion’ in the dictionary on line to see how they would define the word: 

1.       Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

2.       Strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor

3.       There were other ones to but not pertaining to the type of passion I am referring too.

So then of course I had no idea what ardor really meant so I had to look that up too. A great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion. Or Intense devotion, eagerness, or enthusiasm.

This to me was the perfect definition of how I feel about something I say I am passionate about. People know your passion by how you react and put your whole heart, mind and soul into something.  Most people have a passion for their spouse and their kids to see them happy and healthy and invest a lot of their time into them because they are so passionate about them.

In the Christian church I hear so many people say, “I have a huge passion for Christ.”  So, that means you would bend over backwards for him, devote your undivided attention to him daily, be eager each morning to sit and chat it up with him and just be so full of passion for him that the people you work with and interact with on a daily basis know you are passionate about your relationship with Christ and 100 % dedicated to Him. There would be no question left in anyone’s mind that you are a true follower of Christ and whole heartedly His.

I see so many people when they go off to school they choose a profession they are passionate in.  You hear teachers all the time say how passionate they are about their students. You also know they are because all they do is talk, talk, talk about their students and their job almost to the point that if you do not have the same passion all you want to do is tell them to stop talking.  My friend who is going to school to be a teacher, it’s her love, her passion to teach. She loves kids so much and you can tell. She loves spending time with them, playing with them, teaching them, holding them and doing everything with them.  She has a true passion for children and teaching and education. I just love her passion for what she does.  She is genuinely passionate about everything she is trying to achieve. 

With Christians we are suppose to portray that type of passion for Christ. Do not tell me you are passionate about being a Christian and being a follower of Christ if the person you interact with many times in your life who doesn’t attend church with you would not be able to tell if you were a Christian or not.  If you are not portraying your passion about Christ and his love for you the way you would talk about your passion for your job, or your husband or kids then stop talking the talk until you can talk the talk and walk the walk. When you have the true passion with Christ you will no longer have to talk it because people will just now it.  My friend who is going to school to be a teacher has never told me the words, “I am passionate about teaching children.” I just know she is because of what she does, her actions show it.  If you are truly passionate about Christ, you won’t have to announce it with your declaration of saying, “I am passionate about Christ.” You’re talking about him none stop and doing things he wants you to do and the actions which you show every day all the time will be proof of how much passion you really do have for God. I pray that this year my life will become ever present and people will always be aware of my love for Christ.  I want to have the passion for Christ that overflows to the point of being like that teacher who doesn’t stop talking about her classroom who sometimes can get annoying, but in a good way. When we have a passion for Christ we will then have a true passion for other people and the goals in everything will change.  Our goals with life will become more concerned with helping peoples souls and leading them to find the same happiness in which you have found and teaching them that they can have the exact same passion in Christ as you do even if they are passionate about other things in this world. 

Ok so maybe I am on a soap box here and I’ll get off of it. But I am just frustrated a lot lately hearing the words about being so passionate from Christians but I would never know it unless they told me and even with people telling me it’s hard to believe them when they don’t take their passions for Christ outside of the church walls and parking lot. When you actually have a burning desire and eager or excitedness about Christ you spend time with God digging in His word each day and trying to get to know him better and then moving mountains to make sure you can get that time in each day then you can say you are passionate, but then you won’t have to say anything because people will just know it.

Passion is about having an over abundant amount of love and joy in something. Having a strong relationship with Christ brings about both love and joy.  Christians need to have more of a passion for their personal relationship with Christ than they do for their religion in Christ.