Good morning, recipients.
It’s getting late—but I intend to head out right after sending this for another little old man walk/jog.
Yesterday was a kind of wild one—but if I disclosed everything that we did, you may think I’m stranger than you already think. So maybe I’ll just keep you in suspenders—I mean, suspense.
Love and prayers—Ray.
An important question that is not often asked could go something like this: WHAT IS YOUR PASSION? What “floats your boat?” What is it that most thoroughly captivates your attention? What fills your thinking and drives your emotions? Whatever it is helps to identify your passion.
As I read from this The Passion Translation, I’m impressed with how many times the word “passion” appears. And as I contemplate the entire challenge of doing life in the context of a FALLEN WORLD, the ingredient of passion looms as huge. Even in a negative direction, passion is essential if success is to be achieved. For example, how could a bank robber possibly be a successful bank robber if he was casual or “ho-hum” in his approach to pulling off a bank robbery? A successful bank robbery would absolutely require fanatical passionate attention to detail. In a positive direction, what are the chances that a person can be successful in life if they are “ho-hum” or non-passionate about complying with the will and purposes of THE GIVER OF LIFE?
FIRST THINGS FIRST. Isn’t that a sound motto? It certainly applies to putting together a complicated machine in order to make it work right. When the instructions say FIRST, that is the best/safest place to start. It’s kind of dumb to begin with point SEVENTEEN—or any step other than FIRST.
Twice in this reading the word FIRST appears. I cited the first one first—“…FIRST be passionate to do God’s will” (7:12). The SECOND occurrence is verse 24: “Stop judging based on the superficial. FIRST you must embrace the standards of mercy and truth.” I think these two FIRSTs complement each other. Both are connected to passion. I also think we have here the “secret” essential key to achieving success in life. I just put “secret” in quotes because this concept is not really a secret—at least it doesn’t need to be. It’s presented right here again in no uncertain terms.
The other day my bible fell open to Psalm 27 when I wasn’t intending to read from Psalm 27. But I found my heart resonating with David’s expression of passion in the few verses I read—“Here’s the one thing I crave from God, one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer. In his shelter in the day of trouble, that’s where you’ll find me, for he hides me there in his holiness. He has smuggled me into his secret place, where I’m kept safe and secure—out of reach from all my enemies” (Psalm 27:4-6. The Passion Translation). Wow! Amen again!