passion vs. Passion

We all have sinful passions striving for the mastery in our lives. We have mistakenly been led to believe that the solution is to become devoid of all passion. We are attempting “salvation by subtraction”. We think perfection is the absence of sin so we must focus on getting rid of sin. This is one of the devil's most effective schemes. It is like trying to brighten a room by removing more and more darkness. (Huh?)

While it is true that we must relax our grasp on sinful pleasure fixes that mask our emptiness and pain, just letting go will not deliver us from sin. We need power. The passion of sin and selfishness has to be overcome – overwhelmed by the passion of God Himself. Darkness and fear can only be dissipated by light and love. We cannot produce it, but our will can open the doors and windows to allow it in.

When we begin to truly believe that God is passionate for us beyond all comprehension, it will be much easier to counteract and neutralize the passion of sin within us. The reason most churches are so impotent is because they are either completely devoid of passion or they have embraced excitement for their opinions or titillating emotions labeling it the Spirit of God.

We know nearly nothing of the real passion of God. We are clueless as to the intensity of His craving for us to be with Him and share His ravishing love. We focus on condemning sin and each other. We focus on knowledge and eat freely from the Tree of Knowledge believing it will produce salvation. We sometimes whip up human emotion and excitement in attempts to fill our emptiness of passion. But none of these produce real satisfaction so like all good addicts we either return for another fix of the same or look for even stronger medication for our souls.

But the passion of sin can only be overpowered and dissipated by a true revelation of the real passion of the Godhead. Dishonesty and deception can only be dispelled by vulnerable honesty and facing the truth about ourselves, both past and present, in the presence and context of the passion of God for us.