Passion For Change

People bleed. Buildings burn. Explosions transform houses into charred craters. Human bombs detonate on crowded busses. Tremulous wails from grieving widows and orphans waft with the acrid smoke across bricked ruins. Jack-booted camouflaged uniforms whisk by, hot on the trail of an enemy. Rifle pops disturb the countryside into the wee hours of the morning.

Surveying this strife-torn world from the window frame of a new year presents a sad and frightening picture to civilization. We see passions fueled by long-standing hatred and bigotry flaring up into bloodshed and violence. Tyrants and rabble-rousers issue dire threats to other nations, terrorist organizations continue to plot and execute atrocities against western society, and arms-sellers who profit from conflict and military buildup keep it going. My debate contests of decades past that argued against nuclear armaments falling into the hands of crazed dictators seems more likely every day. No crime seems too heinous for extremists to commit who have sold their souls to change the world.

Passion. Desire. Zeal. Our world, our neighborhoods, our livelihoods turn in the hands of those driven by people obsessed by mission. Misguided and warped they may be, but no one can deny the impact they now have on all our lives. We may slow them down, but they keep coming. We may cut their legs from beneath them, we may capture and prosecute them, we may conduct a savage war against them, but we cannot snuff out their fire. Take away their guns and they will use sticks. Take their bombs and they will throw stones. They implant their venom into the next generation and they will come too. They will strike again, and again, and again. Whatever the power or influence is that has ignited these passions, has reaped a harvest of killing machines who have neither conscience nor human sensibilities. So it is when passion rules. And, passion for change succeeds when it is met with a passive, cowardly opponent.

Imagine, then, a church that moves passionately into its mission. We don’t have imagine it. We have a written witness of the primitive church that gave itself to the work of God as much or more than twenty-first century terrorists give to their ugly causes. The first church threw itself with selfless abandon into spreading the gospel. They were slaughtered, they were boiled in oil, and they adorned Caesar’s gardens as flaming torches. Nothing stopped them from pressing on with preaching, praying, singing, giving and witnessing. Imprisoned, disenfranchised, driven underground, forced to live like nocturnal beasts in Rome ’s catacombs, they did not recant. They were flogged, beheaded, crucified, and thrown to the lions. They were denied dignity, refused honor and were forbidden to participate in commerce and politics. They slogged on, unbowed and unbent by their foes. The typical response was contained in the Apostle Paul’s words, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24 .

My pastor’s prayer for the New Year may be summed up in this one word: passion! God has to purge passivity and carelessness from our collective heart and replace it with a holy zeal. Without an all-consuming passion for righteousness and truth, then all our wealth and possessions, our talents and abilities, our charm and charisma, our plans and programs, our history and influence, our accomplishments and reputation, our brains and brawn will fail miserably. Intelligence that is cold, programs that are cut and dried, skills that conform to worldly protocol satisfy neither man nor God. God wants passion. It needs to permeate every fiber and cell of our spiritual existence.

Passion for spiritual power propels the church into intercessory prayer. Passion for intimacy with God draws disciples into periods of fasting and self-abasement. Passion for worship inspires choirs, musicians and worshippers to excellence. Passion for the kingdom’s advancement motivates saints into sacrificial giving. Passion for souls drives witnessing and outreach.

God wants young people who will invest everything in his call. God wants parents who will instill truth and righteousness into their children. God wants wage-earners who will support his cause with faithfulness and sacrifice. God wants worshippers who will wear themselves out to exalt him. God wants teachers who will dedicate themselves to fashioning a new generation of truth-bearers. God wants pray warriors who will immerse themselves in petition and altar work.

Passion depleted? Get re-fired! Holy fire overcomes every missing ingredient.