It’s passion that pushes someone to do one more crunch when swimsuit season is right around the corner. It’s passion that pushes the athlete to run one more lap. It’s also passion that is often the key to success in business because it will push you to go that extra mile. I recently read a quote by Albert Einstein “I have no special talents. I am just passionately curious”. Passion and purpose go hand in hand. Purpose points us in the right direction; passion propels us there.
God created us with both these things in mind — that our lives would be filled with purpose and passion. I have found that purpose has to do with our head, yet passion has to do with our heart. God has given us the formula to live a life filled with passion. It’s a life centered in His love.
Jesus said it this way: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,39) What Jesus is talking about here is a love that is all-consuming. It’s a love that will fill your thoughts and capture your heart.
When I think of a love like this, I can’t help but remember when I was expecting my daughter, Dawn. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, the love I felt for her was all-consuming it rocked my world. She was all I could talk about. I would dream about the day I would hold her and what she would look like. It seems like only yesterday that her little finger curled around mine with those big brown eyes gazing so trustingly into mine. At that moment I was her whole world, she was dependent on me for her every need. Every mom knows what I’m talking about. This is the way God wants us to look to Him — with that same love and dependency. When we do this, He will empower us and guide us to live a life filled with passion, direction, and purpose.
“However, it is written what no eye has seen what no ear has heard what no mind can conceive of the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Passion is a God-given desire, a yearning to make a difference in a particular area. It’s a longing in our hearts much like a magnet attracting us toward a goal.
One of the young Moms in my bible study was reading God’s word and meditating on it. The next thing you know she is thinking of ways to teach these valuable lessons to others. Soon after, she finds herself in her alone time with the Lord speaking it out just as if she had been in a room full of people. That’s God defining her purpose and filling her with the passion to flow in the gift to teach. God always makes room for the gifts He has given us.
We are called to live a life filled with purpose fueled by a God-given passion that will set our heart ablaze to step out and do the very things that God planned for us in advance. In order to define your purpose, you need to get in touch with what inspires you, because what inspires you will fill you with passion.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
Another woman who just recently started attending our church shared with me that she is filled with compassion and passion for the elderly. She has a desire to be there for them and to listen to them tell their story. That passion is the driving force leading her to take action. She is now planning on visiting local nursing homes and asking for those people she could visit, those ones who don’t receive a lot of regular visitors.
Our lives are filled with passion as we step into the very things God has already prepared for us to do. It’s centered in our love for God which in turn will fill us with love for others and propel us into our destiny.
Ask yourself, What do I delight in doing for Christ? What am I passionate about in relation to fellow believers? Many of you may already be experiencing a life filled with passion because you have stepped out and into the good works God has prepared in advance for you. Remember God’s promise to us: “What no eye has seen what no ear has heard what no mind can conceive of the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
As you follow God’s perfect will for your life you will experience divine appointments and doors opening for you to step out and serve others in the very things that inspire you and fill you with passion and purpose.
Remember…. purpose points us in the right direction. Passion is the driving force that propels us to step out to fulfill our destiny!