January 12, 2005
…To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
-Romans 8:6
I admire people who do what they do with real passion, giving it everything they’ve got. It seems to me it’s not worth taking on a task unless you’re going to do it with gusto and commitment. We often say of people like this that they really put their hearts into what they’re doing. That’s an accurate statement biblically, which is why I want us to consider passion as another issue of the heart.
Passion comes in many varieties. The sports world is filled with illustrations of people who lived with a burning desire to be the best and use every ounce of their ability. One such person is Bart Starr, the great quarterback of the Green Bay Packers in their heyday of the sixties and seventies. Starr said this about his coach, the late Vince Lombardi:
“I wasn’t mentally tough before I met Coach Lombardi. I hadn’t reached the point where I refused to accept second best. I was too nice at times. … To win, you have to have a certain amount of mental toughness. Coach Lombardi gave me that. He taught me that you must have a flaming desire to win. It’s got to dominate all your waking hours. It can’t ever wane. It’s got to glow in you all of the time.”
I could give you many more examples like these. It’s fun to meet people who perform their ministry or their craft with passion. But we also have to face the fact that it is possible for the flame of our spiritual passion to dim and go out. Today, if the fire of your spiritual passion has gone out, take a moment to recommit and reignite your love and commitment for God.
RESTORE YOUR SPIRITUAL PASSION AND
GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT.