Purposeless Passion

What is the thing you are most passionate about? Your family? Your job? One of your hobbies? Think about it this way- small talk tends to bring out our passion, right? Your favorite sport, your occupation, your favorite team, favorite TV show, favorite movies, etc.- these are the things we talk about to try and find a point of connection. We also choose these options because they are safe. Yeah, someone might mock you for one of those choices, but it's a lot safer to be a known geeky nerd than have something that is part of our core identity hurt!

Why is that? Because we've learned the art of passionate superficiality to avoid deep pain! Most of us can attest to being hurt when our true selves have been on display. Someone betrayed our trust & we placed our true self behind protective barriers (whether we recognize them as such or not) to ensure we aren't hurt that way again. After so many times of being hurt and walling ourselves off, it becomes hard to ever share openly again about things that really matter to us and we become stuck with a lot of purposeless passion.

Now, let me define purposeless passion: it is energy directed without a meaningful purpose. I mean, entertainment isn't a bad thing, but the amount of time and energy spent repping our favorites is a bit absurd. In 2016, it was estimated that fans spend around $3-5 billion dollars on NFL and MLB merchandise per year (source)! That's more than the GDP of many countries to put it in perspective. That's a lot of passion spent with little purpose more than identifying with a team to feel like we are part of something bigger (and this isn't to make any of you reading feel guilty- I have my share of OU,  Royals, Chiefs, and Rams gear- but to make us all think). If we are willing to spend that much to feel like we are part of something bigger, what does it tell us about one of our deeper needs we are really trying to meet? I believe it is a deep need for community and acceptance in community. In other words, we need to love and be loved in return.

The need for community is by design in humanity and is a massive part of who we are. When we read the creation accounts in Genesis, it says we were "made in the image of God." God is triune by nature- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- existing eternally as three distinct persons comprising one God. If we were made in that image, we were literally designed to do life together and exist in community, but not just any community an intimate community where we are both known and know others deeply. Not just our preferences and tastes, but who we are- our hurts, dreams, and desires. But, community like that where we can be vulnerable and really known is rare, in large part because we've been hurt in the past. That's what makes a fandom so appealing- we can be loved simply because of something we love and find commonality to share passionately about it and still be accepted with minimal chance of hurt. If I love Dr. Who and the Lord of the Rings, there are people who share that passion and it is generally a safe option to talk about (unless you try to erase Boromir's character flaws or tell me that you don't like the 10/11th Doctors!). Move on to other things and there is risk and potential pain.

Unfortunately, the church is often a place of hurt and pain rather than healing and love for many. Why is it that way? The easy, and simple, answer is people, but the hard, and longer, answer is still people. We are broken people who instead of looking to make others whole, seek to bring others to our point of pain most often. We cannot do life alone- we need other people and we need trustworthy people who can share our pain and our joy, our successes and our failures, our fears and our dreams, who will walk with us. Read Romans 12 for some quick perspective on what the church is meant to be:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Does that sound like the church you've seen? Unfortunately, most would say an unabashed, "NO!" The hardest line in that passage is the first- "Don't pretend to love others..."- because we have seen it firsthand all too often, especially in the church. Fake people who will pretend to love you while working on their personal agenda. That's never okay- and Scripture gives us marching orders to stomp it out.  Think about it for a minute- what would your life look like if you really loved the people you came in contact with? Would people look at you and think of you differently? Would it radically alter the course of your life? I absolutely believe the answer is, YES. It is only in loving others Jesus said that people would know we were His followers. But do we really love people? Not pretend to love them, but really love them?

Remember, orthodoxy (right beliefs) cannot be orthodoxy without orthopraxy (right actions). Go and be Jesus to a world that needs it, not just a theological answer dispenser. Live out your faith in love, because "God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense." Go love others as Jesus loved you- full of goodness and unrelenting passion so that all the world may know Him who sent you.