Think back to when you were a kid. What was your passion? Passion: any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling. We all know that children push the boundaries, especially if it is something they love. They take begging to a new extreme even if they think they love it. "Mom! Dad! Please buy me this? I just love it and I'll be happy the rest of my life if you get me this one thing!" "Please, let me, everyone else will be there!" or "I'll never ask you for anything else for the rest of my life!" No matter what it is, they think they must have it or participate in the experience and promise to do anything in return! They have a one track mind once the dream of being happy enters their mind.
We as parents just try to teach them that material things don't bring lasting happiness. It is a difficult concept for kids and some adults, but the children can teach the parent something on occasion. After all God did put the family unit together because you need them just as much as they need you. Lets look at passion in a new light. Not passion for material things but passion as an experience or better yet a spiritual experience.
Take swimming as an example. As a kid, swimming is super fun, right? I remember being a kid and practically living in the water. My mom would say that I was more fish than human. Now my daughter is the fishy mermaid of the pool. She begs... "Just a few more minutes! Please?" ... "Just five more flips." ... "I need to go under and fix my hair before I get out!" It doesn't matter to her that we are at a friend or relatives pool and need to be considerate of their time table.
It just amazes me that my daughter, who is eleven, is so focused on swimming that she doesn't pay attention to any other details surrounding her. She looses track of time and only realizes how late it is when the sky fades darker and darker.
Now, consider this. When was the last time you focused your attention wholeheartedly on something to that extent? Where the task in front of you wasn't a task, it was an extension of yourself. You became so involved that time no longer stands in the way. You look up to find the sky has grown dark. You find yourself saying, "Just a few more minutes." ... "Just five more pages." ... "I need to pray and settle some things before I close this book."
Just like you watch over your children while they are swimming. God is watching over us while we are living. If we were to open the Word of God up and dive in all the way, not just stick our ankles in. Find a passion deep within to get to know God. God will watch our back. He loves us and what would please Him more that getting deeper in His Word? After all, the Bible is God, revealing Himself to us. Everything we need to know about His character, His likes, His dislikes, His passions, His love, is in there. He knows every strand of hair on our head. He already knows all about us. It's time we got to know more about Him. It's time He held the proper place in our hearts and lives. This kind of passion can be live restoring. Dive in. Find Him. Fall for Him.
Matthew 10 : 30-40
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
Psalms 139
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
We as parents just try to teach them that material things don't bring lasting happiness. It is a difficult concept for kids and some adults, but the children can teach the parent something on occasion. After all God did put the family unit together because you need them just as much as they need you. Lets look at passion in a new light. Not passion for material things but passion as an experience or better yet a spiritual experience.
Take swimming as an example. As a kid, swimming is super fun, right? I remember being a kid and practically living in the water. My mom would say that I was more fish than human. Now my daughter is the fishy mermaid of the pool. She begs... "Just a few more minutes! Please?" ... "Just five more flips." ... "I need to go under and fix my hair before I get out!" It doesn't matter to her that we are at a friend or relatives pool and need to be considerate of their time table.
It just amazes me that my daughter, who is eleven, is so focused on swimming that she doesn't pay attention to any other details surrounding her. She looses track of time and only realizes how late it is when the sky fades darker and darker.
Now, consider this. When was the last time you focused your attention wholeheartedly on something to that extent? Where the task in front of you wasn't a task, it was an extension of yourself. You became so involved that time no longer stands in the way. You look up to find the sky has grown dark. You find yourself saying, "Just a few more minutes." ... "Just five more pages." ... "I need to pray and settle some things before I close this book."
Just like you watch over your children while they are swimming. God is watching over us while we are living. If we were to open the Word of God up and dive in all the way, not just stick our ankles in. Find a passion deep within to get to know God. God will watch our back. He loves us and what would please Him more that getting deeper in His Word? After all, the Bible is God, revealing Himself to us. Everything we need to know about His character, His likes, His dislikes, His passions, His love, is in there. He knows every strand of hair on our head. He already knows all about us. It's time we got to know more about Him. It's time He held the proper place in our hearts and lives. This kind of passion can be live restoring. Dive in. Find Him. Fall for Him.
Matthew 10 : 30-40
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
Psalms 139
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.