Passiona†e

It has been a crazy two weeks as my wife and I packed up one house, left one community and moved to another, and then unpacked again. (The reason I have not written.) What would make us do that?  In one word—passion. I would not define this in its normal use, that of emotional fervor for something. Rather, I would place it in the realm of conviction. This is what we are supposed to be doing with our lives.

For my wife, she is passionate for helping refugees coming to America. For several years, she has longed for the opportunity to serve in this way. It is the reason we moved to the area in which we now reside—to be close to an office of World Relief, a Christian NGO that contracts with the U.S. government to help settle refugees in various communities after arriving in the States. Her passion flows out of a conviction that this is what the Lord wants her doing.

For me, I am passionate to see churches train and equip adults so they can effectively disciple their children as the Scriptures teach. (Deuteronomy 6: 6-9) For decades my passion was for ministry to college students, but in 2016 the Lord focused my mind on how inadequate the spiritual training of young people was. Students were not arriving as freshmen ready to live out their lives on campus in a missional way—as ambassadors for Christ. Most were not able to articulate their faith, weren’t very familiar with the Scriptures, and uncomfortable with prayer aside from giving thanks at mealtime or in times of desperation. The Lord began to lead me into a whole new passion—help the local church and parents to learn how to spiritually raise children more effectively.

I worked on a book for more than four years—Letters from Downstream: Why Teaching Kids HOW TO Follow Jesus Is So Important—Insights for Parents and Churches. And as I was writing the book, the concept of a consulting ministry began to form, eventually becoming a reality in UpStream Ministries. I am passionate about both!

For the past year, I have really been working two jobs—with the campus ministry I served for 18 years and rolling out UpStream Ministries. While I had always loved my first job, the love for the second was gaining momentum and overtaking the love for the first. These past few months, to be honest, have been challenging because I longed to be doing UpStream full-time. I still love campus ministry, but my passion is fully toward helping churches and parents raise up disciples for Jesus.

As of Sunday, I completed my tenure with Campus Christian Fellowship at Appalachian State University and now am raring to go on what I believe wholeheartedly the Lord wants me to be doing. Passion flowing from conviction.

This is a biblical concept seen definitively in the lives of Phinehas, Caleb, David, and Paul. Passion flowing from conviction.

In our world today, there is a lot of talk about being passionate, but mostly in terms of what we are excited about. Passions such as these run the gamut. One can be passionate about a particular career, sport, hobby, or political cause. The question we Christians should ask of the Lord is, what is your will for me? Or to put it another way, what do you want me to be doing? Once we sense his will, our passion can flow from that conviction. And that passion will have eternal effect because we are in tune with the Lord’s will for our lives.

Neither my wife nor I were in the hunt for a new passion. Rather, we were merely open to the Lord’s leading. So, if you are questioning what a godly passion might look like for you, the first step is to seek the Lord and be open to his leading. Over time, the Lord will make clear his will, the conviction will take root, and the passion will follow.

© Jim Musser 2022 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.