When PASSION Meets PURPOSE

by Dan O’Deens – July 8, 2022

Passion is such a strong word and barely controllable emotion.  Passion is powerful, it is a deep feeling, so deep that one might even replace the word with love.

Sometimes I think of passion this way; ‘if time and money were not an issue what would you do for God?’  That question elicits an honest and response, it draws out from that which is in you.  At the center of your passion is your heart.

Passion is unique to you.  God created you with strengths, passions, abilities, personality and he has given you experiences that make you ‘who’ you are.  God has ‘shaped’ you and wonderfully made you.  There is no other you.  You have the opportunity to make your world a better place.

Purpose is the reason for which something is done.  Purpose is behind the very creation of man.  It is the essence of our existence.  If we do not understand this foundational reality, it will leave us always wanting more, because we are made on purpose.

Unlike passion, purpose is universal.  Purpose outlines and defines our life.  Purpose clarifies the non-negotiables of the creation of man.  If purpose is universal then understanding that purpose can act as a guide as a pilgrim on a journey into a beautiful future.

THE FIVE PURPOSES OF LIFE

The Foundation is the Great Commandment and the Great Commission and both of these are found in the biblical record.

The Great Commandment:

“LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD with all your heart, soul and mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself.  All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commands.”  Matthew 22:36-40

The Great Commission:

“GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, BAPTIZING THEM in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING THEM TO DO everything I have commanded you.”  Matthew 28:19-20

  1. Love God with all your heart…that is WORSHIP. Worship is simply ascribing to God His Worth.  It is to magnify Jesus and make Him bigger.   This is the chief purpose of man.
  2. Love your neighbor as yourself…that is SERVICE. The world is different today.  We have physical neighbors and because of technology, we also have digital neighbors.  The motive of our service is love.   God created us to love and serve one another.
  3. Go and make disciples…that is MISSION and EVANGELISM. The mission of Jesus is the Church.  (the family of believers).  People have a need for family.  As we share the love of Jesus with our neighbors, and tell our story of how God moved into our lives and offered hope and forgiveness and love, we pass that on.  We demonstrate His love to our neighbors.
  4. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Spirit…that is FELLOWSHIP and BELONGING. Baptism is simply another word for identification.  People are looking for identity.   Our identity is in Christ.  Jesus created ‘eternity in our hearts.’   His Spirit bears witness with our spirit.  He indwells each believer and he adopts us into His family.   We have fellowship with God and with One Another!   It is NOT good for man to be alone.  We are better together.  We need each other.  We have a need to belong.
  5. Teaching them to do…that is GROWTH and DISCIPLE MAKING. Healthy organisms grow.  God has breathed his life into us and in turn we breathe that life giving breath to the world.   We breathe in and we exhale.  As God loves us, we love others.  The mark of a true disciple is not being informed about God, it is more about obeying what God reveals to us in His Word.  Obedience to the Savior and Creator of the world provides health and wholeness.

When Passion and Purpose meet, there is power, health and a vibrancy that is unparalleled in anything else in all of creation.  God believes in you and loves you.   He has entrusted to you the most precious and most valuable gift that He has to offer…the Gospel.

The Gospel is our purpose.   He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  Repentance is simply turning from ‘our way’ to the way God created for us.  The world is a desecrated space, BUT GOD has redeemed this space and provide a way to turn desecrated space and make is sacred space.

God has place you in His world on Purpose.   To love Him and to love your neighbor.

Love….When you give it away, it always comes back to you.   Let’s love better.  Let’s love more.  Let’s love God.  Let’s love our neighbors.

LOVE GOD…LOVE PEOPLE…in that order!  That is the formula for Passion meeting Purpose.