Guard Your Passion

Summer is winding down!

And I’m going to miss watching the kids play one of my childhood favorite pool games; Categories.

Here’s how it works. One person stands on the diving board and chooses a category. The rest of the players choose an object in the category.

For instance, say the category is “favorite color.” When the person on the board calls another player’s favorite color they must attempt to swim to the other side of the pool without being tagged.

The level of difficulty is twofold; choosing a category common enough that there are plenty of options and swimming fast enough to avoid being caught.

I’ve watched kids choose objects like sea horses as their favorite water animal, Hint water as their favorite drink, and fuchsia as their favorite color. What happened to things like dolphins, sweet tea, and the color blue?

I remember one day the category was “favorite fruit.” Now, my favorite fruit is a toss up between watermelon and cantaloupe. Certainly not a stretch to be guessed here in the South.

One of the kids said “passion fruit.” Passion fruit? Do you even know what color it is? Where it’s grown? Where it’s sold? I had to do a little research on that one. Nevertheless, some 10 year old swore by their answer.

Let’s step away from the pool game for a moment. This word ‘passion.’ What does it mean? What does it look like?

Some would say, as a general statement, that women are more emotional than men. They laugh more. They cry more. Simply, their feelings are more easily stirred, affected, and shown.

But are they really?

While men may not laugh or cry uncontrollably until they snort or have snot come streaming down their face, they have passion. We have passion. Our passions are sometimes easily stirred. We smile, wince, cringe, and fret. Subtle semblances of happiness, satisfaction, anger, sadness, and fear. All driven by passion.

Men are often stereotyped to be passionate about their favorite sports team, golf scores, late model race car drivers, hunting and fishing hobbies, and retirement accounts. They often find time to create small talk with their buddies about last week’s game with a surge of enthusiasm or disdain depending on the outcome.

How is it that a surge of emotion can run so high with some issues and not others? How can your blood boil in anger about one social issue and then find yourself unaffected by the next crisis wreaking havoc on the social landscape?

More specifically, how can a Christian claim to follow Jesus and be numb to the reality of evil all around them and fail to follow His commands to invite others to know Him?

I remember attending a summer beach camp and hearing the camp pastor make a statement that has resonated with me ever since. The context of his statement was surrounded by this thought; kids will be stirred and ‘on fire’ for Jesus during camp but that energetic and emotional stir will eventually begin to wane and their passion will be lost.

Here’s what he said. “You don’t lose your passion; you give it away!”

Humans are naturally and inevitably passionate creatures. Filled with strong feelings and emotions. What we most prize are the things we are most willing to protect and fight for.

So when it comes to following Jesus, we don’t lose our passion for Him, we find ways to shift our passion from one object of worship to another. He, who we once prized as our greatest possession, becomes replaced by some lesser substitute of an idol by our shifty, elusive hearts.

We need an important reminder to guard our heart; to guard our passions. We’re not losing our passion. We’re full of it. And we must intentionally protect it. Don’t let your passion for the eternal treasure of knowing Christ concede to any lesser treasure competing for your time, attention, and affections. Guard your passions!