Do You Have a Passion?
Got Zeal?
Do you have a passion? What really excite you? What charges your zeal? We all have different interests which cause us to perk up and get engaged. For some people vintage automobiles really light their fire. More than a few friends of mine would state this is a passion of theirs. As a boy I remember going to “Graffiti Night”. This was a citywide cruise and vintage car show. I never knew so many people collected, restored, and even joined clubs dedicated to this passion. In another field of activity are the quilters. How much time could it take to make quilt? Ha! Squares and diamonds and all sorts of shapes and stitches everywhere of every color of the rainbow! Having worked a number of years cleaning out homes for auctions, you would be stunned at how many quilters I have found lurking out there. I have seriously emptied out rooms full of material because of other individual’s avid passion in this area. Another serious passion of many folks is college sports! If you want to get someone’s blood pressure up, jokingly tell them their team is inferior to any other team. Boom! Fight on! Sport’s fans wear their passion on their sleeves.
When I look to the scriptures, there are many folks who demonstrate passion. David’s passion for the Lord caused him to design a temple for his son Solomon to build for God, though God told him that He did not dwell in houses made with hands (Acts 7:45-51). These men all had a passion, but they operated in a manner contrary than that to which God would have had them behave. Saul had a great passion for persecuting the Church. Philippians 3:6 and Acts 8:1-3 proclaim he ravaged the church and dragged men and women off to prison. With great zeal Apollos went about demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament. However, he had only been familiar with the baptism of John. Aquilla and Priscilla had to expound the way of God more perfectly to Him. All of these men had a passion, great zeal, but it was a “zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2). This statement, applicable to these men was particularly assigned as a description by the apostle Paul to describe the nation of Israel who also went about following a path that was not that which God had prescribed.
Of course, there are people in scripture who had zeal that was not in conflict with God’s Will. Jehu had great zeal for the Lord in destroying the house of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings 10:16). Anna the daughter of Phanuel would not leave the temple, “but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” “She spake of [Jesus] to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-38). Peter speaks of the righteous who “seek peace and pursue it”. He preaches “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” (I Peter 3:13) God desires His people to be passionate about Good works (the very thing we were created for according to Ephesians 2:10) for His son gave Himself a sacrifice that he might “purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for [such].
Do you have a passion for God and Good works? Do have zeal to serve others? Do you have a zeal for the Word of God? Do you have a passion to meet your Lord Jesus in the clouds when he comes again? It is wonderful to enjoy the blessings upon this earth which God has abundantly supplied us with. You may, in fact, have many passions. However, I pray your greatest passion is for the Lord and according to knowledge. Seek him day and night as he desires. Let His love consume you. Fill your life with good works and let your passion glorify God.