Some of my passions don't fall into the three definitions listed above. They seem like passions to me. Maybe I've had a faulty definition in the past? Maybe my passion was really "obsession"? Then again, maybe it was those around me who didn't see passion but did see something else. Perhaps it was "determinism" that they saw? I can look back on my life and relate to passion being couched in bias or prejudice. Whether it is our responsibility to teach our children and others put in our care; we aren't teaching passion at all. Our own definition placed upon others. Does that make our consuming anger toward a referee a good passion? I don' think so. What it does is shows us our sin. Passion shouldn't be mixed up with coming deadlines. Our frantic response to time or situation stress do not make us passionate in any sense of the word.
The words "yes" and "no" have so many variances that I would not be able to list them all here. I'm glad at times like that to have a limited mind. When our two most basic words give us trouble we have already been in trouble for some time. The emotions of yes and no are laden with all the "stuff" we put upon the words. We rarely look upon negative or bad events as passion nor are we passionate with the negative. For instance, Jesus stated from the time he came to earth that it was his goal to die. Hmm... That's an odd passion for you and I. For Jesus, this was THE passion. He came to bring healing and forgiveness to people. He was passionate about his task. Above all else there needed to be a goal or point to what he or we do.
People get it wrong all the time. Strong sexual desires are a product of our passion. I once heard it said that making love and having sex are opposites. However, beginning with passion and romancing your special person with NO MOTIVE other than to give to him/her is where passion begins to show up. The actual physical act of love making is secondary to the passion with which we pursue someone in order to please them. If you don't believe me then look around yourself and see the passionate way people can and do treat those they love. We have seen the unbridled passion on many forms of communication. However it's seldom we see the unbridled passion in the form of grace and love towards someone else much less that passion toward Christ.
It's with a bit of sadness that I don't go to games or concerts even though they would be good to go to. Why? Because I am unable to stand for hours on end. Should you get a seat behind the first row, you will not be able to enjoy that game or concert. Why? Because everyone is standing for the entire event. I cannot because of injuries. However, I can still enter into the passion of the event. I even have replays of pretty much the whole game, beverages that don't cost $8 a pop and the belligerent drunk sitting beside me. Then I would make an impassioned escape. The same person who is yelling, singing, and dancing at a Christian concert does the same thing at a rock concert. So which one is passionate and which one is not? We are told we cannot live two lives. We need t choose our passion wisely and stand with that passion.
Now that all that is cleared up (not!) our lives can be lived much better and our ability to make God and others more important becomes a possibility. Jesus is our example. He was selfless all the way to giving his life for us. Would you become passionate for Jesus? That's the only passion that really counts. Should you and I accomplish being passionate for Jesus the passion passed onto others become His through us. We cannot go wrong with sharing Jesus with the world.
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