What is Driving Your Passions?

     My husband has a passion for gardening. Even after numerous run-ins with the tools of his hobby, including stitches, tetanus shots, and even antibiotics due to injuries from wayward clippers and hedge trimmers, he can't get enough of it. Today, as I attempted to garner information on a new, large bandage on his arm, he attempted to elude me. I pursued him and finally he confessed to hitting himself with a crowbar (too long a story to include here). But my response was less than sympathetic, I burst out laughing!  Not exactly the response that gets you "wife of the year" awards. But it seemed like a scene straight out of a Three Stooges comedy act! 

    In our morning devotions, my husband and I read about people who are passionate about sports, wearing crazy gear and spending enormous amounts of time and money on their hobbies. The author asked whether as Christians we have that kind of passion about following Christ. I started thinking, "Do I have passions that I'm willing to go to great lengths to enjoy, and yet would I spend even the same time and energy pursing the Lord and His will in my life?"

    Hobbies are not a bad thing. Sports are not a bad thing. But where I can go astray is when a good thing, gets in the way of a God thing. What did Jesus say about our worldly desires and perceived needs? He tells us in Matthew 6:28-32 not to worry about our clothes, food, and drinks, because those are the kinds of things that pagans run after. Then Jesus ends that section with what we should be seeking in Matthew 6:33 (NIV), "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

    I hear, in these scriptures, Jesus saying that we need to start with desiring God's will first, then He will give us what we didn't even know we really desired in the first place and it will be better than we ever imagined.  

Matthew 6:25 (NIV) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?