As I've watched the church's progress during my walk with Christ I've noticed something very deep. The churches that succeed are those who have a passion for something.
They don't have to have a passion for the right thing or even a biblically accurate position. They just have to have passion. People are drawn to passion. It wakes them from the stupor of life that they are hoping to glide through.
Passion is both an individual condition and a community condition. It's infectious. Usually one person gets it and shares it with another person or a small group. Once the group gather's its collective passion a synergy is created that creates a wave of passion. That's when the community gets flooded by the passion.
Some call this process a fad. When someone likes something its just a passing fad that will soon pass beyond our awareness. Yet, sometimes passion is more than a fad. It is a permanent change in the psyche of humanity. Christianity is one such event.
God was passionate about us. He shared his passion with the angels. He shared it with a group of humans. He shared his best; his son. He got involved with us, with his passion. He's never lost that interest.
Churches can be moved to passion. It only takes a single person to passionately move their church forward. The great thing about passion is that each of us can choose passion.
Paul told Timothy to fan the flames of faith that were within him and stir himself to action. Paul was basically telling Timothy to become passionate again about what he had found so interesting before.
We live in an age that focuses greatly upon its feelings. Isn't it about time we utilized this emotional tool to reach those people with the greatest message of all time?
Passion is power. Those who choose to be powerful can change their world for the better. Stir up your passion today…whatever you're passionate about. Change the world. Shape it and form it into what you feel is best because you won't have it around forever.
Steps to Passion
• Apathy - It doesn't even register on our radar.
• Indifference - We know about it but still don't care.
• Awareness - We see it and hear when others talk about it.
• Interested - It has become something we tune into and listen to with pleasure
• Vocal - We begin to share our opinions, good or bad.
• Involved - We care enough to help.
• Activist - We adopt the passion as our own and promote it.
