Our Passion is Our Priority
Welcome to week two of the “Summer of Passion Series.” Passion is an extreme excitement, a deep devotion and a longing love for something. God would desire that we would be passionate about him. Jesus tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” We are passionate about God when we love him with all our being.
Last week we learned [see part I – A Fire of Passion begins with a spark of change] that when we can sometimes get stuck in routine, habit, or monotony in our personal lives. We need to rekindle our passion. A Fire of Passion Begins with a Spark of Change. We must make changes in the way we live our life especially, if we get in a rut in our spiritual life.
This week we will see that what ever our Passion is, so will be our Priority. Whether your passionate about fishing, hunting, the San Antonio Spurs, what ever our passion is, so will be our Priority.
What do I mean? Last week something happened to Amanda [my wife] and me that I am a little personally embarrassed about. We were on our computer working on our financial budget. It was the first of the month and already we were in the red. Can you relate to that? Amanda turned to me and asked, “What are we going to do?” Joking around I said, “Well I could go and get a second and third job!” I turned my attention back to the computer screen and continued working trying to figure out what we could do. Then I was convicted because my wife got up from her chair, went to the bed, grabbed a pillow and put it on the floor. She motioned me to join her in prayer. We both got on our knees and prayed.
Why is it that when times get rough and tough many times the last place we go is to our God? All things are possible through God yet many times he is our last priority. Where ever our passion is so will be our priority! I mean we have a ringer, who can help us yet we leave him out of the game of life.
Growing up, I played little league baseball. There was this one kid who just could not hit the ball. I mean it was so bad that if it was two outs we just started walking to the dug out because we knew he would strike out. But, I don’t know what happened over the summer, but this little guy learned how to hit the ball. It was amazing. The next year, he became a super star. 9 out of 10 times when he went up to bad he would hit the ball over the fence. He became our “GO TO” batter. When he got up to bat and we had two outs, we began walking the bases because we knew he would come through. He was our sure ringer.
In our lives, we have a ringer. We have a “sure thing,” yet we leave him on the bench. Instead of putting God first when times get tough we turned to him, later if at all. What ever is our passion so will be our priority.
I believe Scripture talks about this so I would like everyone to turn to Matthew 6:19 through 33. We are going to skip around a little bit but I would encourage you to go back and read the parts that we will hop over.
Matt 6:19-21
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What Jesus is talking about here in this excerpt from Matthew is about materialism. If you ever want to show that Jesus is still relevant today then look at scriptures like these. I know all of you would agree that materialism is still a problem today as it was back then.
Jesus tells us that don’t get caught up in material things, and especially don’t make them your priority in life. Materialism can be a pitfall to many people, but as these scriptures say, they will eventually corrode and fade away. Only things from God are eternal. So why would we make material things of the world our priority when we could have things that last?
But focus on verse 21 for a second. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When I came across this verse it gave me goose bumps because this was God’s way of saying where your passion is so your priority will be. God wants to be our passion and our priority.
Skip down to verse 24.
Matt 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Notice that the verse doesn’t say “you should not serve two masters.” No, it says you can not. It is not possible. You will love the one and hate the other. It’s like oil and water.. it doesn’t mix, because here is why. When you try to serve two masters, somewhere down the road they will conflict. You will have to give priority to one over the other. It is just not possible to keep them separate.
No where is that more evident then in the church today. We see church splits everywhere because of a battle of passions taking place. Take a look at these churches where homosexual pastors are allowed even though it is clearly spoken against in the Bible. Or those churches that allow same sex marriages when the Bible says that marriage is for a man and a wife. When a passion for worldly things, conflicts with a passion for things of God then whatever our true passion is will be revealed. You cannot serve two masters. If sinful acts are your passion then it is not too difficult to skew God’s word to fit our sin. I think if we really wanted to, we could justify anything through scripture. If God is our sole passion then we will not allow any thing else to conflict. We can only sere one master, we can only have one priority, and God wants to be that master.
Know take a look at that last sentence in this verse. You can not serve both God and Money. If you are using the NIV Bibles then you might notice something really strange about that sentence. Anybody see it? The word money is capitalized. This caught my attention the first time I read it. If you know anything about grammar then you know that it should not be capitalized.
The original greek word for this word Money is “Mammon.” Mammon is a word that means “gain.” It’s basically a “passion for money.” We might call it greed. But more than that it is greed personified and give human like characteristics. Almost as if it was a God. In my research I even found that some cults worship a god of Money. Do you know what it is called. It is called mammon.
It is no wonder that they say that money is the number one reason for divorce among couples. Do you think there could be a spirit of mammon involved. That is why there is such a love for fame and glory in our worldly culture. There is a love of money that is out of control so much so that Jesus specifically warns against the love of money.
We can’t serve two masters. We can’t love God and Money, We can’t love God and Sex, We can’t love God and Beer, We can only love God. We can love only one thing with “ALL our heart, ALL our soul, ALL our minds. God wants us to love Him and make Him our passion. Because whatever our passion is, so will be our priority. God wants to be that priority in our lives.
Now many people read this and say but… but… we need money. Does God not want us to have any fun? Of course he knows we need these things. That is why this next part of Scripture is the do not worry part.
Read Matt 6:25-33
He tells us do not worry about food, drink or clothes. I used to read this scripture every time I would begin to worry about something in my life, but I think I would forget one important part. It says don’t worry, BUT instead, [verse 33] “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This is a huge part to miss! See instead of seeking these other things, these other masters it says seek God, not third, not last but FIRST and he will give us what we need. This is a promise!
Now you might ask what if I don’t seek Him first but maybe third or fourth. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that if we make him a priority in our lives and seek him the very first then he will grant what we need.
So how do we make God a priority? It all begins with baby steps. God wants to be our priority. So put him first in everything we do. Maybe in your car put the Christian station on the number one preset. Give him the first part of our day, by taking a few moments to pray and get in the word. Give him the first 10% of our money to let him know that “mammon” is not the lord of you life.
I thought about this the other day as I was going through my gym membership contract. There is a spot that says “Emergency Contact.” Why not put “GOD” in that spot. If something happened to you wouldn’t you want them praying for you first? Make God your 911 call at the first sign of trouble or at the first sign of conflict or the first sign of stress. Go to God through whom all things are possible.
Make God the priority in your life. Whatever our passion is will get our priority. Let’s not leave here today with making at least one baby step to making God #1 in your life. Let’s pray.
