Passions are activities, tasks, or responsibilities that make you feel excited, inspired, and dedicated. Passions that align with your career path can help you feel more motivated and satisfied at work. You may be passionate about a specific cause and work at a company that has a mission aligned with that.
A good answer to the question “What is your passion?” should be authentic and reflect your true interests. Here’s a structured way to respond: Identify Your Passion: Clearly state what you are passionate about. For example, “I am passionate about spreading the gospel.’ The Bible indicates that Jesus instructs His followers to spread the gospel. A well-known passage in Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. This is a command given to the apostles and extends to all Christians who follow Jesus. Another passage in Matthew 28:19–20 states, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”.
The scriptures urge us to live our lives with passion. The Apostle Paul encourages believers to “never be lacking in zeal…” (Romans 12:11). Later on in his letter to the Galatians, he says to them, “It is good to be zealous, provided the purpose is good…” (Galatians 4:18). So what is a good and godly purpose for us to place our passions?
While our career is certainly a worthy place for us to bring our passion, it pales in comparison to the ultimate answer we find in the Gospel: knowing Christ and making Him known. The greatest passion of our lives should be for Christ. We have all heard Jesus’ answer to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” Matthew 22:37 records His response,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
This verse is His way of saying we are to give our whole selves in a loving relationship to God. Simply put, He deserves the entirety of our passion.
It was the disciples’ passion for proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah, empowered by the Spirit’s presence, that turned the world upside down. As the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection spread from Jerusalem to the nations, their love for Him became contagious, and many men and women became followers of Christ.
Similarly, God wants to use you and me to draw others to Jesus. Several years ago, I came across a tweet by Pastor John Piper that I believe perfectly captures God’s desire for His people to live with a zeal for His glory through the Gospel.
This is exactly what the Apostle Paul commands in 1 Corinthians 10:31 when he states, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.”
This year my prayer for our church family is that our zeal for the Lord would increase and become evident to all who know us. I believe that as we live with a humble passion for seeing Christ honored in all things, our friends, family members, and neighbors will take notice.
A passion for God always begins with a dedication to worshipping Him in community with other followers of Christ. It is within this Christ-centered community that we fan the flame for the Gospel that burns in our hearts. As our knowledge of His Word deepens and grows, it compels us to embrace the great adventure of sharing Christ with others locally and to reach the nations through global missions. A passion for Christ also moves from our heart to our hands, causing us to live generously and to look for opportunities to compassionately serve the hurting and those in need.
Living with a passion for God is far from a formulaic construct for our lives. However, it does promise the hope that we will have an impact on the lives of others for Christ. The great 19th century Evangelist Dwight L. Moody* once said,
“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”
May this also become the aim of our lives. By God’s help, let us live as men and women who are fully devoted to one single passion: the honor and glory of Christ in all things.
Today, I invite you to live a life of passion.