When we speak of passion, we always refer to our strong, deep and overwhelming emotion towards something or someone. “Oh, I am really passionate about dancing” or “My passion towards singing will never die!!!” Such exclamations and promises we often make without understanding what exactly it means to be passionate about doing something or towards someone.
Passion can also mean, and always does to the world, intense sexual desire or love, very often self-driven and not so often possessive. There are many examples of passion being used negatively in the bible to refer to our fleshly passions. (Roms 1:24-27, 7:5, Gal 5:24, Titus 3:3)
We have deviated a far distance from the original meaning attached to the word-Passion.
*‘Origin: 1125–75; ME (<> late OE passiōn), special use of LL passiō suffering, submission, deriv. of L passus, ptp. of patī to suffer, submit;’
The more archaic meaning or usage of the word is to refer to martyrdom.
In Isaiah 53, we read of the suffering servant, Jesus, who was ‘Smitten of God, and afflicted. ‘(v4) and ‘pierced’ and ‘crushed’ (v5) for whose sake? For ‘us like sheep have gone astray’ (v6). We chose to walk away from him and abandon him and mock him and oppress him but yet, he suffered willingly ‘like a lamb that is led to slaughter’ (v7) because by doing so He knew that the LORD will be pleased and the flock that he so loved will be justified and be good with God. That was His Passion.
Read v11, ‘As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied’. See what? See that the sins of His offspring are forgiven and the sin problem satisfied. I believe this satisfaction also means that He is happy, He is joyful that His suffering has brought eternal redemption for those He loved.
Therefore, having passion, as a pastor once summarized, is suffering for what you derive joy from. That is why it is called ‘The Passion of Christ’ and not simply the ‘Love of Christ’ because loving without passion does not pay the price.
Oh, how gullible and naïve we have been in thinking that the “passion” that we speak of is enough to drive us and motivate us to achieve some sort of result or happiness. ‘As long as I am passionate about this or that, I can make something good out of it and it will never die down! ‘. But, once suffering or setback comes our way, we retreat and surrender and say, ‘Maybe that is not really my passion after all…’
Let us not go on deceiving ourselves by thinking that mere deep, intense emotion can fuel our zeal to serve Christ. If we are not willing to suffer for Him (ref. 1 Peter 3-4) how are we fit to even call ourselves ‘Servants of God’, our service has no credit or guarantee at all! Once someone criticizes us or mocks us, we take pity on ourselves and give up.
When we read John 17, we see that when Jesus prayed for Himself and for His disciples, undoubtedly, He is filled with anguish and sorrow. But, amidst His anguish and sorrow arises the deep-seated joy that percolates through the lines of intimacy (v24) that Jesus enjoys with His Father and joy from knowing that He is doing the will of His Father, for the good of His disciples and the world. We can have joy in affliction! This joy is derived from knowing that God is glorified ultimately when we submit to His will even when His will encompasses suffering.
On the other hand, please do not walk down the path of misguided zeal.
Paul before he was saved by God was a zealous persecutor of the Church of Christ. (Philippians 3: 6) As you know, zeal is a synonym of passion, Paul had exceeding zeal! But it was for the wrong purpose and if not for grace, his misguided zeal would have brought him eternal self-destruction. After his conversion, what did he say he will do?
‘I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death’ (Philippians 3:10) What a beautiful expression! To experience fellowship with Christ by suffering with Him.
Dear brothers and sisters of dom7th, I urge you, may you think seriously about why you are serving in this ministry. Is it because you love music? Music is your life and ‘I will die without music man…’ Or because you have got a pleasant voice and you think that should mean that you are passionate about singing? Not too long ago, till I found out what passion actually means, I thought that way. However, it is never too late to realign your heart to think about whether you are willing (not ready) to suffer for this passion, this love you have for the ministry that you are in. And above all, Question yourself and ask whether you are willing to suffer for Christ joyfully and serve brothers and sisters with a truly passionate heart for them. Amen.
‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ - Matthew 9:36
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With regard to the content above, I think I should clarify certain things if some of you were confused. Sorry about that.
Firstly, I do not mean that if you do not suffer you do not have passion for whatever you are doing. I meant that when the suffering/trial comes are you willing to go through it with no complains/grumbles (in fact I think this is the hardest) or unwillingness?
Secondly, what I hoped to do was prompt ourselves to think whether what we profess in words, matches what we perform in deeds. For example, if we profess that we have a passion for the youths among us but yet we are not willing to make the extra effort or use extra time to teach them the word, do I really have a passion for them? This is just one of the many scenarios I can think of...
So in all, just think carefully before you say you are passionate about something if now you know what it requires of you. This came out of some personal reflection when I realised that for some time, I thought that I was passionate about a certain ministry and that thought was enough to keep me going but along the way, I was losing heart over it and grumbling yet I was not fully aware of it because I kept thinking that I "loved" it.
And lastly, Yes, I think suffering can mean sacrifice too if you want to think of it that way. It is mutually inclusive.
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