Good evening, dear people.
I’m kind of fighting to keep my eyes open at this late hour—9:41pm. It’s been a wild full day with these 5 grandkids here. But we managed to get some firewood processed and stacked in the woodshed. I just returned Andy and Delaines three to their home in Dallas.
I think I need to find my bed.
Good night. Love, Ray.
For some reason I think I acquired a misconception of the concept of “passion” when I was young. I thought that it was something that afflicted people to make them kind of weird—at least fanatical—or beyond reasonable in their love for or interest in some activity, craft, or ideology. I guess I didn’t want to be viewed as “overboard” on anything. I will never forget the “aha” moment that seemed to come over me as I pondered the greatest commandment of the Bible as confirmed by Jesus. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38 KJV). I had memorized those lines as a kid and could rattle them off with hardly a thought. But as I gave careful attention to the idea—“all thy heart (that’s all my affections and emotions), and with all thy soul (that’s all my spirit and personality), and with all thy mind" (that’s all my thinking, intellect, and choices)—Wow!—it hit me hard—that’s passion! The God of the Bible was commanding me to love and serve Him with PASSION! That simple realization continues to grow on me.
The wording of the FOCUS VERSE seems to add even more clarity to this essential idea. Matthew 24 is a discourse to describe a lot of general conditions surrounding the END TIMES. It’s not going to be pretty. Jesus predicts major persecution of believers in those last days and says, “There will be such an increase of sin and lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and other sill grow cold.”
Here’s what is grabbing my attention this time: I’m seeing that PASSION (a passionate love for God) is not an option—not just an unbidden emotion that arbitrarily hits some believers but not others—rather it is a volitional choice that is absolutely essential to survival. Jesus goes on to say, “But keep your hope (and your passion) to the end and you will experience life and deliverance” (v. 13). I’m thinking that Romans 12:11 fits well here: “Never be lacking in zeal (passion), but keep your spiritual fervor (passion), serving the Lord.”