Ok, so I know I haven't been on here in a while, but I have had these burning thoughts in my head. They have kept me up for several nights, and I finally put them on paper. They are still a little jumbled, but I have divided them into three different sections. Here is section one with the others to follow soon.
Part I: Realizing You Have a Passion
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)
I recently had a friend ask me, “Can someone say that they are made to do something
specific in life?” It took me a second to think about it, and then I had an epiphany. I looked at my life and realized that I had been made for one thing in my life: to help people. I looked at my friend, who is an amazing musician, and said, “Look at your life. Do you think you were made to do what you are passionate about or did it just happen?” He quickly realized that he was made to be a musician. Not just a musician, but a great musician that will bless and enrich peoples lives. So, my answer to him was a resounding yes. We are made to do something specific with
our lives. However most of us never realize our potential or see our passions brought to life.
This conversation started a unique thought process in my life on what my personal
passion is and how people seem to look for a passion but never quite find one. This process has changed how I view my past failures and how I am looking at my future. After a few sleepless nights, several thought filled days, and lots of time in my Bible, my thoughts and actions are starting to line up with what I feel God has built me for.
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet. In verse 14 (NIV) he
states, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” I personally feel this is due to most of us not even realizing that we have a calling or a passion that Christ has put in us. If we never realize what we have been put on this earth to do, how can we see our dreams come to pass?
The first step of fulfilling your passion is realizing that you have one. I don’t care who you are, you have a passion. God has given us ALL passions. All to often people seem to miss what their own passions are and pursue other peoples passions because they seem so much more amazing than anything they could ever come up with. However, following someone else’s passion usually leads to burnout, disappointment, or feelings of failure that lead to negative actions in your personal life.
In the first part of fulfilling your passion you are in a stage that I personally call “The Tunnel.” During this part of life you come to realize that you have a passion inside of you, but you don’t really know what it is. I compare this to being in a tunnel and you can see your passion ahead of you, but it is either too far away or too blurry to know what it is. No matter how hard you try you just can’t grasp it or bring it into focus, and it is always just out of reach. This can be the most frustrating part of life. I know, I was there for several years.
This part of the journey is a great time to learn and grow. Not just about Christ but also about yourself and what your made of. During this part of my life I was taught several lessons in patience, leadership, love, service to others, humbleness, and several other things I didn’t realize were needed to successfully pursue my passion.
Proverbs 22:9 (NLT) states, “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed
the poor.” Notice that this verse is written in present tense. The author did not say they fed the poor, he states they feed the poor. Several times throughout Jesus ministry he says that we need to help those in need, or take care of orphans, or take care of the widows. It seems interesting to me that most Christian passions end up focusing on the same people: Those in need. Whether your passion is to be a pastor, to change oil for single moms, or to help people to their seats at a church service, almost any passion or ministry comes back to helping people. Every Christian should learn to love and help the less fortunate. Often when we learn to help the less fortunate our passions will become evident.
When we realize that we actually have a passion, we must also realize that we cannot
be selfish or self centered when pursuing it. Having your passion focus on you and not on God is a quick recipe for failure. If God is not the center of your passion, he will not bless it. That raises the question, if he does not bless it, will anyone be blessed from it? This is also one of the hardest parts of being passionate about something. Our normal response when we do any type of work or ministry is to pat ourselves on the back, or make ourselves look good so that someone else gives us praise. John 3:30 (NIV) states, “He must become greater, I must become less.” If we truly believe in our passion, we must realize our reward may not happen here on earth but after we see Jesus.
The biggest danger and downside to being in this part of the journey is overreaction.
You don’t know what your supposed to be a part of, so you may try to be a part of anything and everything. You end up volunteering too much or trying out ministries or career paths that you soon find out don’t interest you at all. On the other hand, you may sign up to do anything and everything just because you are excited about having a passion, even though you have no direction. You can quickly have too much on your plate and fall short of the commitments you have made. Without focus and direction you can quickly become overloaded or succumb to burnout, and that can quickly lead you away from your church and spiritual mentors that can help you during this time.
Stay in prayer and in the Bible during this time and you will start your walk down the "Tunnel" successfully.
This ends part 1. I will be putting up part 2 very soon. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
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