PASSION FOR PURPOSE

“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” – John 4:34

What distinguishes a mere Dreamer from a godly Finisher is PASSION for PURPOSE: “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (Jh.4:34). Christ’s satisfaction was found in pursuit and fulfilment of Purpose! Passion speaks of living for a cause with all you’ve got; believing in a purpose and giving it all it takes. Pursuit is having a drive for your dream. Purpose is of no value without passion and pursuit. Purpose is not the end in itself. Passion and pursuit are the forces that transform purpose into reality. When you don’t pursue purpose, you can’t possess it. Knowing where you are going is the first step; the actual pursuit is what takes you there. The vibrancy and vitality in your pursuit reflect the value of your purpose. People who do not believer in their purpose would lack the energy for pursuit.

Purpose without passion lacks the fire of enthusiasm. Passion without purpose lacks focus and direction. Passion is the energy of the soul. Passion is intense emotion that compels action; a strong devotion to an object, activity or cause. People lack passion for a variety of reasons. Familiarity is one – allowing something or someone precious to become familiar and taken for granted. Apathy and lethargy may increase with age, while zeal can diminish. Contemporary society lends itself to passivity: people live in a voyeuristic culture of dependency, living vicariously through others rather than pursuing their own purpose. In particular, people lack passion because they have no purpose beyond themselves.

How can we become more passionate in our journey of faith?

Believe that passion is the deciding difference in your life. Even in the preaching of the gospel, many churches treat the gospel like “a piece of information.”  Passion is replaced with descriptions of passion. This is like reading a cookbook to a person who is hungry. Weak desires bring weak results. Athens was about the only place Paul visited that he didn’t plant a church because he was greeted by a greater foe than open opposition – indifference.

Realize that God desires passionate Christians in the mould of Christ: “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Tit.2:14). Paul encouraged passion: “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Rom.12:11).

Pray for passion. There is an underlying element of passion within the Lord’s injunction for us to intercede for the harvest: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! (v.35). In other words, leave no room for passivity or procrastination.

Return to Your First Love. Apathy isn’t a state of mind; it’s a state of the heart. The Lord Jesus warned the church in Ephesus about their lack of passion. He acknowledged their accomplishments, hard work, and doctrinal purity but counselled them to return to their first love that they had abandoned (Rev.2:1-6). Our first love is and will always be Jesus. What keeps us focused on Christ as our first love is the greater reminder that it was He who loved us first and our love for Him now comes simply as a response to the greatest love we will ever experience. Without passion, there can be no love.

Exercise passion by stirring up your gifts and potentials. Paul reminded Timothy: “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (1Tim.4:14-15). Again, he wrote: “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2Tim.1:6). Empowered by Holy Spirit, we’re called to pursue with passion the upward call of God for divine distinction in Christ!