Passion of the God-kind

    
    "Let only one thing be your passion, one thing in this life, and that is God... He should be the One and only passion you have . . ."

These words were spoken to a group of individuals, myself included, many years ago by a certain pastor who owned a music venue.  Since then, I have never forgotten those words; and honestly, I have wrestled with them from time to time through the years, and to be perfectly honest, at the time, I only partially understand what those words meant...
 
I was a musician (and still am) in a band...  I did not totally understand why music could not be my passion, as well as God...  I mean, He puts certain desires in our hearts, gives us certain gifts and talents; he wants us to find a healthy pleasure in those things, right?  So, what was the problem?
 
Well, in comparison to our God, nothing else is worth being impassioned about... In fact, what should gives us the MOST fulfillment and satisfaction and pleasure in this life--is giving glory to the God of the universe--our Creator!  Everything else fades in contrast... in like manner, our music, our hobbies, our roles at our jobs, the things we watch, the things we say, the way we raise our families, the things we spend our money on, the things we think, ALL the things we enjoy doing and get pleasure from doing--should do the same--which is to glorify Yahweh, our Lord...  anything we do, in and of itself, should not be what drives us... anything we do should be the "instrument" or means to give glory to Him!  This is what I have come to understand...

And I don't doubt that many of us, perhaps, understand this in principle, but as so many things, does this go very much beyond a theoretical level?  We have this "knowledge" of the Kingdom and how it works, but what do we do with what we've learned?  Do we squander this knowledge?  The principles are taught to us, but are we taught adequately how to apply the principles?
 
Put more plainly, Jesus told His disciples, "Go and make disciples..." for a reason!  Notice He did not say, * "Go therefore and make converts of all the nations, teaching them nice-sounding principles..."  There is a HUGE difference!  Yes, we teach them the principles, but we SHOW them as well... which leads us to the next part of Showing people the Kingdom, as illustrated in the following story. . . .


*Compare to Matthew 28:19 & 20


   

The Fisherman

   
   "This is where the rubber meets the road..."

 
Once there was a certain fisherman who liked to talk alot... everywhere he went he told people about the principles of fishing: what it takes to bait a fish, what kind of baits and lures to use depending on the type of fish you were wanting to catch, where specifically to go and what time of year and what hours of the day are best for fishing... he would also talk about the best gear to use; suggestions and reasons to use them: lines, reels, lures, poles, hooks, nets, whatever else having to do with the tools of the trade...

The renowned fisherman would also host fishing seminars and travel the countryside, sharing his  reasoning of all the sound principles and logic of fishing... he would even use scientific evidence to prove that fishing, according to his teaching, was the best way to be successful at catching fish and everything surrounding it...

At his seminars and through his website he sold a book--more like a big, beefy fishing manual--that contained all of the information you would ever need to know about the concept of fishing; whether it be for trade or for sport... of course, this book was not written by himself, nor did he ever claim it was... he was merely a messenger and teacher, an honest man who dearly loved the ideas, practical concepts, and principles of fishing ... (did you ever know fishing could be so involved?)

But--there was one problem with this dude --  
 
     -- H E  N E V E R  FISHED...

In spite of all the talk of grandeur, the vast information he had collected and shared with people through the years on the subject, from his book and other fellow teachers he bumped shoulders with; he had not fished once in his life, all he ever said amounted to nothing more than hollow words--rhetoric...though he actually was sincere in his speech, his words were unsubstantiated...

Moral of the story:  "He talked alot, but did very little" -- that is -- he knew very little firsthand... though the information, as it turned out, was quite accurate indeed; an inspiring text with much depth bound within the pages of the book he studied and taught out of -- he did very little to indicate that his acquired knowledge from the book was worth having...
 
Thus the burden of proof that clung to him through the years weighed on his back and shoulders, until his muscles were numb and his knowledge just sat on his brain, stagnating...and rotting...          

   This ends the Story of the Fisherman who Didn't Fish...

Talk versus Reality

Continuing from the moral of the previous story: Christians talk a good talk, play a good game, say the right words when they feel the necessity, even flash a good smile!  But what is our substance? What are we made of?  What is truly behind the words that we speak and the things we profess to know?
 
If we all say "amen!" at Jesus' words in Luke 17, that "the Kingdom of God is within us...", then we need to step back and think about what God's Kingdom looks like... because if we are honest with ourselves, we can see that the Jesus described in the four gospels and His disciples of today present a stark contrast--as a general statement--though there are, of course, exceptions, and have been throughout the decades and centuries...
 
Here's reality: the Jesus of the bible did wild stuff, as we all know who have read about it -- He healed the sick and diseased; cleansed the filthy of reeking, rotting flesh; expelled demonic spirits who clung to tortured souls who were trapped, with seemingly no way out; He even gave corpses new life!  Jesus talked to the storms--the weather actually listened to this Man!  He commanded a tree to shrivel up and die, walked on the sea as if He was on solid ground...
 
So when talking about Jesus, we're basically talking about a Dude that lived life awake inside of the Matrix, hacking through and pointing the way to Zion:*  He spoke to the human body, dead or alive, and it did what it was told; He commanded the demons to flee, they followed in sync, shrinking in fear; He even spoke to nature itself--and it cooperated... ALL creation bows down to this Man, this Son of God, this King of Glory, the Anointed One to whom all authority has been given in Heaven and on earth... ** and these words right here should be the catapult that thrusts us out of any complacency or apathy we may have lingering inside of us:  Jesus Christ, Yahshua Messiah, has given us His authority!  Do we understand this?  I ask myself the same question...

The church of America has grown in it's complacency and is way overdue at taking the LORD at His Word... if we believe what we say, if we believe the words of the Bible and it's Author, then why do we not prove what we believe?  It's not enough to merely "know", * or pick and choose certain parts out of the gospel **, but taking it for what it is in it's fullness and begin walking this thing out... yes, it is a process, but as people who have been "handed the baton", so to speak, *** we must be taking steps in that direction...****

So here it is -- practically speaking -- we begin by meditating on Colossians 1:9 & 10 -- may we "be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that" we " may walk worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..." Colossians 2:20-23  We are dead to "the basic principles of this world..."  Luke 17:21  "The Kingdom of God is within you!"  1 Thessalonians 1:5  For the "gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit..."
 
This is the Kingdom with the culture that is within us: something that supersedes merely words, and is something that confirms these words with acts of the Spirit; ranging from prophecy, to exhortations, to miracles, to freeing people from demonic strongholds of the enemy--any and all things demonstrating the power of Yahweh!  Without these things, we seem to be carrying that "burden of proof" on ourselves... we're busy talking about fishing and the gear that comes along with the job, yet we have yet to actually fish-- how is anyone to believe that our gear actually works if we don't show them?

That said, we do not seek the power from Heaven, but we seek the Giver of that power * who gives us a life that lasts eternally... and assuredly, through this sincere seeking of Him in worship and in truth ** with the intention of walking in this truth, *** we will begin to see this power manifest... but it will not happen unless we go for it with a determined focus and a righteous violence!


*Luke 8:1
**Matthew 28:18

*James 1:22
**James 1:21, 1 Timothy 4:1 & 2
***Acts 1:1-8
****1 John 2:6    

*Luke 10:20, Matthew 6:33
**John 4:23 & 24
***3 John 1:2-4