Our culture is not lacking passion these days, but passion is often misplaced. We are passionate about our sports teams, our families, our jobs, and even about our hobbies. We are passionate about politics and current events. Yet, when it comes to things of God, we replace passion with either a robotic ritualism or general apathy.
How can we direct our passion toward God and living for him? Consider as a role model a King we read about in the Old Testament. Here’s how the Bible summarizes his life, his epitaph, so to speak.
[he did] “what was what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God.” – 2 Chronicles 31:20
His name was Hezekiah, and he excelled above the other kings of Judah. If you study his life, you find a man with a passion for God. Why did the Bible say that he did what was good, right, and faithful? How could he accomplish this on a daily basis?
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Passion Properly Directed
“In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” – 2 Chronicles 31:21
I believe Hezekiah demonstrates four truths that will help us focus passion in the right direction.
The scope of his passion.
He applied this passion to EVERYTHING he undertook. Hezekiah saw every task as service to God and therefore worthy of his greatest effort. He didn’t cut corners, hold back, or cruise. He took great care to obey the laws and command of God.
The source of his passion.
He did not seek success, he did not seek applause, he did not seek to be right, noticed, rich, or victorious. It was much simpler than that, he just sought God. He wanted to fellowship with and learn from God. He nurtured his personal walk with God, and at the end of the day, the thing he wanted most was to know that he pleased God.
The strength of his passion.
He worked wholeheartedly. He didn’t give half-effort when it came to serving God. Hezekiah did not give God left over time, energy, ability, resources, or attention. God got it all. He gave God 100% effort everyday whether he felt like it or not.
The reward of his passion.
He prospered. He didn’t seek prosperity, he sought God, but God blessed him as a result. Had he sought prosperity, he probably would have never achieved it, at least not in the abundance that God gave him, and he would have been without God. The net effect would have been having neither God nor prosperity. Since he chose to seek God over prosperity, he would up with BOTH.
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I want to learn to throw my whole heart into seeking Him, obeying Him, and serving Him. I want to seek after HIM with all of my heart. I want to know Him more intimately and let Him have all of me – my hopes, dreams, aspirations, failures, successes, plans, all of it! I want to be like Hezekiah.