RELATING TO PASSION: OFF TRACK
Thursday, July 2, 2020
Living Free Every Day®
A ministry of LivingFree.org
Today's Scripture
"Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying." Romans 12:12 NLT
Thoughts for Today
We've been discussing passion this week. Passion to serve God. Passion to accomplish what he has called us to do. Yesterday we said our passionate service must be motivated by love. Love for God. Love for others. The kind of love that motivated Jesus to suffer and die on the cross to pay the price for our sins.
Sadly, we are sometimes motivated by other things. A desire for attention or wanting people to show their gratitude. The feeling of power. Trying to "earn points" with God. Or a multitude of other selfish motives.
People of great passion can fall prey to stress, anger, depression, and despair. They may develop an "I don't care" attitude—especially when they are focused on what is wrong in life rather than on what is right and what God is doing to make things right. Passionate people can find themselves in dark places at times.
Consider this …
We can get off track when things do not go the way we expect them to or when people fail us in ways that are hurtful or upsetting. It's especially easy for that to happen when we are motivated by anything other than love.
When this happens, we need to take a step back and ask God to get us back on track and reveal if we have any wrong motives. To help us have a right attitude. As today's scripture says, we need to be comforted by God's ultimate plan for our life, to be patient and always prayerful.
Prayer
Father, forgive me for getting off track. Please help me have a right attitude. May my love for you and for people around me grow, and may that love become my motivation for serving.
In Jesus' name ...
These thoughts were drawn from ... Where is the Image of God in You? by Brad Rymer. The purpose of this study is for us to see how some of the different character traits we have can be used in constructive rather than destructive ways in our lives and relationships so that we are operating more and more in the image of God according to the way He created us. Also, this study can help us better understand others as we build godly relationships. Note: This curriculum was written especially for small groups, and we encourage people to use it that way. However, it can also be used effectively as a personal study for individuals or couples.
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