Passionate Living

I become more and more convinced that one of the keys to living (and loving) life is passion.  Simply put, the excitement to face each day, to embrace its challenges, and to attempt the things we should seems to be the mark of a passionate person.  And the truth is those kind of people are the people we want to be around, because boring and depressing are not adjectives we want to generally be associated with!

For those who believe in Jesus, passion is even more essential.  As I look at  Acts, I see people oozing passion from their pores.  In fact, this passage from Acts 4 has me captivated: 

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.  These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.  They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.  But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children.  The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.  Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.  They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?  Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.  For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’  There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.  But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.  So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.  “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.  But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”  So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?  We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”  The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years. (Acts 4.1-22, NLT)

There are three HUGE things in this passage to dissect, but so much more that we could pull from it!  However, to keep this from becoming a book I'll limit myself to three items:

1. This is the same Peter who denied knowing Jesus & ran from these same leaders only a short time ago.  What's the difference between Peter the denier and Peter the on fire preacher man?  Short answer- passion!  Long answer- he's filled with the Holy Spirit!  Both are important, but the latter doubly so.  Peter wouldn't (and couldn't) have been doing what he was doing without his passion coupled with the work of the Spirit in him.  That same power is available to all who believe, but we seem to ignore it and instead rely on our own power.
2. Notice the descriptors given by the council- "they were ordinary men...who had been with Jesus."  The Greek word there is idiota, from which you can guess which word we get!  They literally said, Peter and John are idiots without training or knowledge.  But, they recognized something important here- "They had been with Jesus."  If there's one thing I want on my tombstone, it's that: "We recognized him as having been with Jesus."  That is the key!  Again, human capacity helps (training, knowledge, schooling) but is absolutely not necessary when God is in the picture.  God's prerequisite isn't some degree or training program but that we have been with Jesus.
3. God's power plus our passion influences others to do amazing things.  What I didn't include in the above passage is what happens next:

As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.  When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry?  Why did they waste their time with futile plans?  The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’  “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.  But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.  And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4.

Notice the word ALL there.  No longer was it Peter & John preaching passionately, but each of the other believers joined in.  Your passion is important, but the trump card is the power of God.  So the big question for us today is this- are we relying on our own power or are we leaning on God's power to push His kingdom through our passion?  Because I'll tell you, I'd rather have people know exactly what I do and why because the passion I have shines through showing them that I've been with Jesus.  Besides, if this isn't something that stirs you to passionate boldness, what should?