There are a lot of passions out there. However, for us, Christians, what should be our greatest passion in life? Join me now as we discover the GREATEST passion of all!
What is your greatest PASSION?
What makes you just want to jump out of your bed and do that one thing in your life? What excites and interests you? What is that one thing that you are willing to do without getting paid?
In short, what is your greatest passion in life?
There are a lot of people who have different passions. Some like to climb mountains. Some love to travel around the world. Some are willing to give up their lives for their country.
Others join international organizations to save the environment. Others want to discover scientific breakthroughs and invent new things while some work so hard to get rich. These are just some of the popular passions of people.
Now, there is nothing wrong with the passions I mentioned above. But how about you? What is your greatest passion in life? Most importantly, is your passion in line with the will of God? If yes, is that passion burning so brightly within our hearts?
A Double-Edged Sword Question
If we would like to know the passion that would really matter in this life and the life to come, there is no other source to look to other than the very Word of God.
Let us examine Matthew 22:34-37.
Verse 34 reads, “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.”
The Pharisees and the Sadducees are two of the chief sects among the Jews during the time of Christ. Both of these sects are not on good terms with others. They are rivals.
Instead of being happy for Yahshua or Jesus Christ who silenced their rival sect, the Pharisees instead “gathered together” not to rejoice, but further test Jesus.
Verse 35 mentioned, “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying…”
A lawyer has the same function as the scribes. They are known to be most well-versed in the laws of Moses. We can see here in this verse that he poses a question not to learn, but to test or tempt Jesus. This is obviously the wrong attitude that we must not have when reading the Bible.
Verse 36 reveals the question of the lawyer: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
This question might have been a popular source of debate among the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other sects. At first glance, this question seems to be harmless. But this is a very tricky question. If Jesus would answer one particular commandment, then He might be accused of belittling other commandments.
Though this question is designed to tempt God, I still thank the lawyer for asking that question to no other than our Savior and Master Yahshua himself. For by asking that question, we have the answer to what should be our passion – not just a physical and ordinary passion – but a spiritual passion.
In essence, we can also say that the lawyer is asking, “Teacher, what should be our GREATEST passion in life?”
The Greatest Passion
In the succeeding verses, we see now the answer to our question.
Verses 37 and 38 reads, “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
Jesus said that our greatest passion in life must be to love the LORD our God. How should we do that? We must love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and Mark added, strength!
That’s 100%, the totality of our being, the entirety of our whole existence! Talk about having a passion! God expects us to give Him 100% of everything that we are – without holding back, without any hesitation.
So now, do you see the magnitude and enormity of our calling? This is not a joke, but a serious matter. We need to take heed of the words of Jesus Christ.
Notice in verse 38, Jesus said, “This is the first and great commandment.” If Jesus considers this as the first and great commandment, then it follows that breaking this commandment is the first and greatest sin.
Loving God must be our passion.
This passion must totally be burning so HOT and strong within our hearts, that no matter what happens in our lives, our passion to love God – with all our heart, soul, and mind – will never be extinguished.
Doing our passion demands that we sacrifice our time and energy. Loving God also means that we need to sacrifice for God. It is no secret that anyone who wants to live by this passion will suffer. However, we must not forget as well that the reward is GREATER than anything we could dream of.
Passionate Actions: Starting with three Steps
This passion should not just stay in our hearts and minds, but it should be practiced. It must be translated into our lives. Our belief must be reflected in our minds, words, and actions.
So how can you show your passion? How can you love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind? There are a lot of ways and all of them are listed in your Bible. But let me help you to start with these 3 ways.
First. Devote time for prayer. Talk to God. We need to wake up each day talking to God. Have you talked to God lately? I know it is difficult, because I, too, have difficulty doing this. At least devote 15 minutes of talking to God in the morning and evening. It is difficult to go on your day without communicating with God.
Second. Devote time for Bible study. After talking to God, we need to listen to God. We can let God talk to us by reading His word. Devote at least 30 minutes of your morning or any time of the day studying His word. This can be reading the Bible, godly literature, books, devotionals, and listening to sermons.
Third. Preach the Gospel. If you really want to be passionate about loving God, you need to fulfill His commission for us and that is to preach the Gospel. Never ever let the day pass by without doing something to preach the Gospel. Simply sharing God’s messages through social networking sites is a good way to share the hope of His coming Kingdom. Shining as lights in this world and being a good example is another one. Just be creative in doing God’s work here on earth.
Living up to your Godly Passion
So again, let me ask you, what is your greatest passion in life?
I hope we all have the same answer. I hope that the answer will burn in our hearts. I hope that this passion will make us excited, will make us motivated, inspired and even addicted to loving God with our all hearts, with all our souls, and all our minds.
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