What is YOUR passion?

"All sins are in one sense an attempt to fulfill a genuine, righteous longing, but in a way which is inappropriate." (p. 105) I love passion, and I am moved by conviction. There is so much to be said for those who seek the ways that lead to wholeness and struggle with perfecting a skill or talent. However, we are sometimes wrong. In our rightness we are wrong, in our manner, we are wrong, in our inflated sense of importance, we find ourselves wrong. Inappropriate. Self righteous. Pitiful. And often, probably the worse part of the whole picture, continuing to assume we are right when we are so very wrong. It is easy to point to the hardened hearts of the world and say wow, look at what they are missing. The actual tragedy in faith communities is really not the hearts "out there" which are hard, but how many hearts that gather around the communion table who are closed to the power of the message, the word of challenge and the grace which gives wholeness. The ears in the sanctuary which no longer listen, the arms crossed and the frowns which do not reflect love but self righteousness and disdain. Ironically, attitudes like the crowd which gathered and that shouted at Christ on the cross "save yourself" and "crucify him". Then, when we find ourselves betraying our motives, too close to the ugly image of sin, we wipe the disdain off our face, feign concern and level the "I am only thinking about the church"... but really only thinking about ourselves. I wish my experience could chalk this up to "passion", but very rarely is this so. Passion is the hunger for the experience, to learn more, to grow more, to place oneself not above but within the confines of what inspires. Anything else is just critique. And God is not looking for critics, God is looking for servants who "hunger and thirst for righteousness." Hungry for the food of the soul?

What are your passions? Can you think of a time when you were not passionate about an idea about God, but actually passionate about God? What does that mean?