Passionate Living

pas·sion 

noun
1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
4. an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
6. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.
7. the object of such a fondness or desire: Accuracy became a passion with him.
8. an outburst of strong emotion or feeling: He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.
10. the state of being acted upon or affected by something external, especially something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior ( contrasted with action).
11. ( often initial capital letter ) Theology .
     a. the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper.
     b. the narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels.
12. Archaic . the sufferings of a martyr.

Origin: 1125–75; Middle English (< Old French ) < Medieval Latin passiōn- (stem of passiō ) Christ's sufferings on the cross, any of the Biblical accounts of these (> late Old English passiōn ), special use of Late Latin passiō suffering, submission, derivative of Latin passus, past participle of patī to suffer, submit; see -ion

Just as we are called to be like Christ, we are called to passion. I have just given you several of the formal definitions of passion (the others speak of amorous/ sexual passion - which is not the intent I'm looking for.) We, as people, are given a passion for that which we are called to do in the kingdom of God.

The anchors of passion are found among its oldest roots. These roots translated to English are submission and suffering. Christ submitted to His Heavenly Father when He allowed Himself to be hung on the cross for our sins. This can also be seen through the lives of anyone who has ever become a martyr for their faith in God.

God acts in our lives, and changes us when we allow Him to. To accept His unconditional love for us is passion. We are allowing Him to impact us, and responding to His motions. We are called to long for Him, expecting His imminent return.

We are called to be passionate about the work which He has set before us. For me, that means taking those who I told God I would never want to work with, and doing His will instead of mine. I have told Him so many "I will never ..." thoughts, and yet He laughs. Because He knows what His plan is for my life.

We are called to love God, and to love each other. So let us get about His business of sharing Him with others and let Him become our truest passion.