The Scriptures tell us that Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem the week before the crucifixions. It basically means, He had an iron will to carry out the Father’s plan and nothing could distract Him from the His path. Jesus’ sacrificial offering on the cross for all mankind is known as the Passion. He was absolutely in union with the Father in their love for the world and willingly gave up His live because of that love. Jesus is the perfection of Passion, and is the example of a passion lived out from the heart of godliness.
This is the kind of passionate life most Christians want to live. They want to do the Father’s will, they want to sacrificially give of their lives to others, and they want to ensure that nothing taints the name of Jesus. This, however, is where things can get a little sticky, where Jesus never missed the mark but where too often we, as Christians, tend to.
Passion is defined as, “Intense emotion; intense or overpowering emotion such as love, joy, hate or anger; a strong liking or enthusiasm for a subject or activity; the object of someone’s intense interest or enthusiasm.” Passion in and of itself is a natural response, and at time a very good and stimulating emotion, but when taken too far, when not checked by reason or patience, passion can be detrimental.
This said, passionate people are fun to be around, they add energy to causes, they draw people to themselves, they ignite interest and they are interesting. Passionate people tend to be leaders, driven by their vision of what could be, of what should be. This is what can make them dangerous to themselves and others. If all of life is lived with such intensity, there is little time for quiet, for God to direct and lead. It is passion without wisdom that causes the most damage in our world.
Unchecked passion, too often is called zeal for God, defense of the faith or standing up what is right. Recently, I heard Beth Moore say, and I believe it to be true, that no one has ever one anyone to their side through arguing. Now there is a difference between honest, open conversation, persuasion to ones point of view and argumentative debate. The first is a sharing of ideas in a respectful manner, not concerned with winning the day, but instead with loving the heart. The other is a take no prisoners mentality, with the goal to dominate the discussion and conquer the opponent.
Saul was passionate. He loved God’s Law with all of his heart; a Hebrew among Hebrews, a Pharisee, blameless as to the Law, and devoted to keeping the purity of the Jewish faith. He was a devoted to God. He would stand up for, defend and protect all that Moses had taught, even if he had to kill people to do it. He was a defender of the faith. He stood up for what was right, but he lacked love. Now, Saul would have said that was not true. He no doubt believed that he loved the Lord, his God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, but John wrote:
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone
who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has
not seen. 1John 4:20
Saul stood by and held the coats of those who stoned his fellow Jew, his brother, Stephen. Saul was passionate about the Law and thought that equaled passion for God, but passion without love, is hate. It was the Saul, who finally surrendered his passion for truth, his vision for the world for love who wrote:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am
only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and
can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1Cor.13:1-3
Too often, I find myself in a place of passion, that is zealous for a semblance of the truth, the truth of God as I perceive it. I often feel, as Paul did, that I must defend my Father. That I must stand up for what is right, and convince others to my view, even if I need to argue that point of view. I can be a persuasive, debater. Laying out a case for my position with clear and distinct examples arguments. I can win a room if I work hard enough, think long enough, and speak passionately enough. At the time, in the heat of the moment, I am sure that I am fighting the fight to defend the name of Jesus, to protect the God I love, or say that I love.
Sadly, it is only as I stand in the wake of my own zeal that I realize that I acted from passion that lacked love. As my heart stills, as I look around at the chaos that was derived from the argument, I understand that I allowed a self-pleasing passion, drive what I thought was a God-pleasing one. It is then, in those moments when I hear my Father’s voice, when I am alone in the after emotion of passion, which He says to me, “I can take care of My Own name, Heather. I have called you simply to love Me not defend me.”
Of course, that is when I tell Him, that love equals loyalty, and loyalty defends those it loves. But what I have discovered, I was going to say learned, but I keep making the same mistake of living out passion without wisdom, so I can’t say that I have learned the thing I have discovered yet, is that too often I value loyalty to an idea, an ideal, an institution, a belief, a person or group of persons, above love.
We all have ideals we live by, virtues that we hold too as we set up our own internal system of right and wrong. We, as individuals, have values that are more important to us than others are. For one of my friends, honest is the basis to judge all other things or people. For another an attitude of joy is highly valued, for another it is devotion, and to another kindness is the most important quality someone can show. For me, loyalty is at the top of my list. The trouble is that all of these qualities are important, they all make up morality, they are all attributes of God, but when they are placed in an order of significance, they get out of balance and when that happens they turn into our passion, not God’s character in us. There is a need for honest, for joy, for devotion, for kindness, for loyalty, but without love, they are a clanging cymbal, because the greatest of these is love. This is because God is love, and in Him, there is no darkness.
You see, passion lived apart from love is radicalism, is and always will be only an ism. It is not faith, it is not God’s heart, it is our zeal. It is destructive and unchecked it can lead to horrendous acts against those who do not have the same value ranking as we do. We must live in the spirit so that the desires of our flesh do not lead us into sin.
Passion is not the value we must live by instead it is love. We know we are off track, when our passion will conquer anyone who does not agree with us, when we will destroy someone to ensure that we win the day.
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