Passion is the ability to feel deeply and strongly, to experience intense emotion, to be able to give yourself 100% to something or someone, without holding back. Passion is what makes life worth living. Without passion we merely exist, filling our days with stuff, waiting for either the days to run out or the clock to stop. Passion is what makes the difference between living a full life and walking around like numb little zombies. Passion enables us to fall in love, give of ourselves to others, do irrational things, take risks, to cry, to weep in empathy when others are suffering, to make a superhuman effort in circumstances where the chances of success are zero. Passion adds that element of magic to everything we do.
There are many things we can be passionate about. One of the first things that usually comes to mind in this society, where sex sells anything from rice crackers to luxury vehicles, is a passionate affair. The people swept up in such an emotional and sexual roller-coaster ride give themselves completely to each other, without any thought of the consequences. Extremist Muslims express their passion with a zeal rarely seen in our culture, and with a blind commitment sourced in years of brain washing. It is obvious we can be programmed to be passionate. Whilst their intent is evil in the extreme, they are willing to die for their cause.
This essay is about 'the Passion of the Christ', and His fervent wish that His followers down the generations would feel as strongly as He did about God's eternal purpose.
THE NATURE OF TRUE PASSION
Whilst most of us like to think of ourselves as passionate people, the definition each of us attaches to the word 'passion' varies enormously. True passion is something that generates such power and energy that it starts rebellions and causes revolutions. True passion has to be expressed. True passion cannot remain silent, and cannot be silenced. Whether for good or evil, passion causes us to speak out:
"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart; and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart; for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks". (Luke 6:45)
When you pass the age of fifty, having experienced first hand the many shortcomings of the fallen human nature, many of us have become cynical, disillusioned, numb. We have tried passion and it backfired. So, trying not to think about the end, we continue to battle through another day, grabbing little moments of light and pleasure, hoping there will be more, but not really expecting any. And our mouth stays closed, preferring popularity and acceptance to controversy in pursuit of Truth. All we like sheep have gone astray. Solomon had an incredible start in life, blessed with God-given wisdom and wealth beyond imagination. Yet he finished his days totally disillusioned. We need emotional healing, yet we would rather remain in a protective cocoon, than come out and be hurt again.
THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
We arrive at a place where a pivotal decision is called for. Do we really believe or not? If we do, why not risk being hurt again by the people around us? If we do, why do we still look primarily for personal fulfilment and have private agendas? If we really do, why don't we passionately give ourselves over to God and His eternal purpose, willing to give our very lives for Him? We ought to be fanaticalabout so great a plan and purpose and promise. And if you are going to be fanatical, you can't do better than to be a fanatic for Jesus! The way to the Promised Land, brutally honest truth, and the meaning of life itself, are all wrapped up in Jesus.
So do we really believe? Or are we hedging our bets, a dollar each way? There is a new betting craze gaining popularity - pick the loser! Have we got our foot in the door of salvation, but just in case we imagined it all, shall we still try to get the best deal for ourselves out of this life?
CONFLICTING PASSIONS
Passion is the essence of life. Take away passion, and the magic of human existence is somehow diminished. But we have to recognise always, that our limited ability to reason leaves a real potential for us to be wrong in the position we have adopted. Expressing our case passionately, as I do here, I believe to be a good thing, but I appreciate, no end, other people's attempts to do the same about their strongest convictions. Whilst passion makes us speak out, agape love makes us listen.
I make a huge effort to remain open to the opinions and passions of others. My stand on the case against evolution is wildly passionate. I believe all the evidence points to creation. But I read many books and articles on evolution, fascinated by the latest discoveries, willing to examine the whole of the available data and contemplate where my position might have holes. My stand on the 'prosperity doctrine' is passionately against. But I read and listen to the arguments for it, looking for holes in my own perspective.
This entire website is driven by my ardently passionate belief that somehow, somewhere, sometime, in some unexpected way, shape and form, there will be an expression here on earth of a church which functions the way Jesus expected it to.
That expression is often described using the terminology, a 'perfect church', almost always applied with a derogatory or sarcastic intent born in unbelief, and used in conjunction with, "Once you join it, it won't be perfect anymore!" Yet to give up on that belief goes against every grain of my being. To my way of thinking, if no such church ever comes into being, the whole of creation will have been for nothing. Jesus will have died in vain. His own prayers will not have been answered. If we are to be 'perfected' by some miraculous snap of the fingers at the time when it is all over, then God might as well have made us perfect little robots, right at the beginning of time. The transforming power of the Gospel will have been proven to be impotent. But I remain open to be proven wrong. I beg everyone reading this, please, send me your case against, so that I can consider its merit. I admit openly to being an idealist. At this point in time, the case against a 'perfect church' seems motivated solely by the superficial evidence before us, not by what the Bible, and therefore God, says. It seems almost a defeatist attitude, giving up on the reason we have been created.
SUMMARY
I know it is discouraging to see the Christian state of affairs the way it is at the moment, with all the division, all the bickering and disagreement, all the hypocrisy and worldly values, all the public humiliation that comes with exposure of sexual sin and cover-up within the organised church. Many of us go away from the Sunday service, thinking how many better things we could have done with that time. Others of us are so excited by hype, that we actually believe that this is it. But go and seek His guidance, without the preconceptions and the brain washing. Go and seek His face in private and ask for His opinion. Jesus deserves better than what we've been prepared to give Him.
CONCLUSION
He is waiting, obviously patiently for some 2000 years now, for our hearts to change and our souls to surrender! And then to see the birth of a passion in our hearts so intense, it will change world dynamics and start a Christian revolution.
Best of all, it will bring Him back, to come and get us, to be His bride forever.