WHERE IS YOUR PASSION?
Psalms 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
It is funny how we set out life's priorities. You can always tell what a person’s priorities are by the way they value them. The greater the priority, the greater attention we give them. Our priorities can be necessities to being the frivolous. I have known people that have given such priority in their life for genealogy that they have spent thousands of dollars for research and even going to other countries to find out their family tree. They joined organizations and even been in published books, but in the end none of their effort really changed their life at all. In fact in the case of this person some of her relatives she wished she didn’t know about.
Then there was a man on the Joel Osteen show today that his priority touched the lives of millions of people. It all started when he was a young boy. He heard about a organization that helped poor children, and he decided that he would start mowing lawns to earn money to send to these children. As he grew he became a doctor and started going to those countries where he had sent money as a youth. The more he went the more opportunities God gave him to expand his priority for Jesus and the children in need. He began to talk to pharmaceutical companies and they in turn started donating millions of dollars worth of drugs that he could use to help those in need. To date he has had over a billion dollars of donations to help with his priority. What he chose to make a priority in his life bettered the lives of millions of people.
We may not all be able to do things of great worth as the doctor, but when we have Jesus directing the priorities in our life we will find great satisfaction. In fact God can make much out of a little we may do for him when our priority become wholehearted. Even the best priority that is anything less than wholehearted will become small. But even a priority that may be considered small in the eyes of the world can be used by God in a mighty way when done wholehearted.
One of the passions of my life has been to help people to come to know and love Jesus. While it has not yet become great in the eyes of the world, I am still as passionate as the day I made it my priority. Through prayer, witness and testimony and a lot of love, I have tried to help Jesus have a beautiful bride and a glorious kingdom. In fact one of the very reasons for spending 35 years working on my Commentary and Bible Study, and now my devotional is to help my loved ones and descendants to stay true to Jesus.
When I was young I wanted to be a pilot, major league baseball player and a shop teacher. Since I have retired I have thought several times what if I would have spent my life doing all those things. How would things be different. Kind of like the movie with Jimmy Stewart and “When the angel gets it’s wings”. My only conclusion was I was so glad I became a Christian and served Jesus. While my passion didn’t turn out like Billy Graham’s, it did cause a ripple in the makeup of time that God willing will continue to touch lives for Jesus down through time. My only asking from Jesus about this is that it will never be less than wholehearted for me and in others that may take up this call.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us passion. It is good to thrust ourselves into something worthwhile, especially for you. Please keep our fire burning bright and hot in our heart and life. In Jesus’ name we ask this.
