Holy Passion

Exodus 33: 13; 18

Show me your ways, so that I may know you

“Show me your glory, I pray.”

PASSION

1. Concentrated wisdom with high energy in the pursuit of meaning.

Passion produces purpose!

Passion- it’s contagious!

What is that one thing that drives you? That one thing that you are willing to devote your all to? This is where passion begins. Passion begins by asking each of us to define that one thing. What is your first love? And, why? This is where passion begins. But passion proceeds quickly by asking, “What is your motivation? What drives you to do the things you do?” And passion does not stop here. Rather it strips down deep below the surface of our life, to the very root of our reasoning. Why are you committed to this? And then it continues by asking how. How will you give voice to me, your passion? How will you achieve that to which you are so committed?  

It is here, in the questions of how, that passion promotes unity. For, as we answer the questions of how, we are drawn away from independent individualism and into community with those that share our same passion. In this way we toil together for our passion’s manifestation right here, right now. Passion promotes intensity, forcing us to concentrate all of our energy, putting forth our very best effort to achieve the desired result, our passion.  And because passion does this, it assures accomplishment providing intentionality to our life. Passion in fact creates purpose, which itself gives a depth of meaning to our life. Thus passion, because of purpose, forces us to rise high above the sin of mediocrity. Passion transforms us from a smoldering wild grass fire to the intensity of a fire produced by a welder’s torch, as we live united in the power of passion.

The story is told of an interview that occurred between a young aspiring author and a wily old veteran author. Upon sitting down and procuring his journalist’s notebook, the young author began the interview. The usual questions began flowing from the young author; Where and how did you get your start? What was the best piece you’ve ever written? How does inspiration happen? On and on the rookie writer probed the old veteran in the ebb and flow of question and answer.

Then the rookie asked the one question that forced all the others into the muted background of that moment. “If you had it to do all over again,” asked the young writer,“how or what would you do differently?”

As the tears threatened to cascade from the corners of the old veteran’s tired eyes, betraying the sensitivity hidden deep within, the veteran author replied. “Were I to have the opportunity to do it all over, I would find that one thing, that something or someone, big enough to devote my entire self, 100% of me, too.”

At the end of it all, even after a lifetime of achievement, that one thing the old veteran writer desired most was to have lived a life marked by passion. And, you and I aren’t that different, are we? We too desire to live lives marked by passion. We too long to unite all of our being, mind-heart-and soul, around that one thing.

So, let me ask a bold question, what if that which fueled our passion, that which became the one thing, was simply to know God more? To borrow from the Apostle Paul, “this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) What if this became the power of our passion? What if we prayed beside Moses, “God, show me your glory! Show me your ways!” And then, when God did reveal himself to us, because he will, what if willingly allowed God’s self-manifestation to transform us. Then could we be so bold as to live all of life with a holy passion, sharing these stories of transformation one with another. What if we became a people so filled and fueled by this holy passion that it radically transformed us that we could not help but make God known: in our work, in our play, at school, at home, in the market, in the public square.

Wherever we are- no matter the place, no matter the circumstance- may we be a people of holy passion! Lord, show us your glory! Show us your ways! May we be a people whose deepest desire is to know you and to make you known.

Are you bold enough to live all of your life marked by Holy Passion?