I don’t know about you, but with a lot of things pulling our attention, it seems it’s really hard to get up the motivation to be passionate about anything these days. So much demands our attention that we tend to spend our days in a kind of auto-pilot “survival mode.” We may consult our calendars and our lists to see what needs to get done immediately, but the idea of dreaming about or envisioning something else for ourselves seems . . . well, exhausting. Or maybe even pointless. A few years back I began a program called the Soul Care Institute. Designed for pastors and ministry leaders, its intention was to give us the tools to prevent burn out in ministry. In our first week in person together, the professor asked us what our dreams were. It stumped a lot of people. We get on auto-pilot, and we know that’s not ideal, but we don’t always know what else to do. Stuff has to get done, right? The tyranny of the urgent is very real. So we don’t make space to dream much anymore. Last Fall when we walked together through our new Vision Statement, I asked you all what you were passionate about. And 35% all said the same thing – you are passionate about your family.
We do a good job serving families at this church. We do a lot of family-friendly events. We offer Trailblazers for younger children and youth group for older kids. Most recently, I’ve seen two different people take their passion and turn it into a service for families – one was offering sewing classes and another created Parent’s Night Out once a month. I’m seeing people with a passion for baking, sewing, music, and crafts use that passion in service to others.
One thing the Soul Care Institute taught me is that when I am in survival mode, I don’t dream about my future. I don’t envision something deeper outside of myself and my circle of influence. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14) “One thing I do.” One thing. Pressing on toward the goal to win the prize. It can be easy to think that Paul is talking about the prize being salvation . . . which ultimately leads us to heaven.
It’s easy to read this and think about what sounds really good to us right now – in our overwhelmed, over-exhausted, over-scheduled, survival-mode life – eventually ending up in a place of perfection where there is no more pain and no more tears. But the prize he is talking about is not heaven. It’s not eternal life. You know how I know that? Because Paul is saying that the goal is something HE is striving toward. And we cannot earn eternal life in heaven. The prize is Christ himself. The prize is the relationship with Jesus.
When was the last time you considered Jesus as the one thing you are passionate about? When Jesus is our center, all the hopes and dreams and desires flow from that. When we remain in him we will bear fruit that most honors him. Which is the point – to be a reflection of God to the world, so that all may know him. God gives us passions outside of ourselves – like our family, like jobs and hobbies – but if we do not center Jesus first, our lives become disordered. Overwhelmed. Over-scheduled. Without Jesus, we simply run on survival mode. To passionately pursue Jesus is to begin in the right place, to order our lives so we don’t become disordered in our hearts. May he always be our “one thing.”
In Christ, Pastor Stephanie
