(COM)PASSION 

a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who isstricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire toalleviate the suffering

Let us not study passion, desire passion, or acquire passion for ourselves. This will leave us empty and void, for the musician plays for the listener and the dancer moves for the audience. The passion of the Christ was not self-centered; rather, it was others-centered. He didn't suffer for himself, he suffered for others. 

This is called compassion. 

Compassion is always inconvenient.

-Pastor Jim 

I truly believe the reason we live passionless lives is because we refuse to bear the burden of passion. It requires effort and endurance we are unable unwilling to give. And if one is unwilling to sustain personal passion, imagine their response to bearing the weight of compassion. 

Compassion is long-suffering. 

Compassion is sweet. 

Compassion doesn't want to steal what you've managed to gain. 

Compassion doesn't brag about what it's managed to gain. 

Compassion doesn't lash out all of the sudden. 

Compassion doesn't bring up past disappointments and frustrations. 

Compassion doesn't find joy when inevitable consequences overtake the foolish. 

Compassion is more concerned about your victory then being thanked. 

Compassion is always there to keep you safe. 

Compassion is a second chance... and a seventy-seventh chance. 

Compassion always believes in you. 

Compassion never quits. 

There is another word for compassion:

(COMPASSION) = (LOVE)

Yes, it requires much to offer compassion to another. It requires putting others first. How will we ever find the ability? 

Wait...

Let us not forget that we find our strength in the Father of compassion (2 Cor 1:3)... in whom we share this passion.

"Sometimes it takes watching someone love something to love it yourself."

Passion. 

Perhaps you are one of the fortunate few who experiences the thrill of something immediately coming to mind as you read this word. 

Yes. I have known this. 

An 

INTENSE

DRIVING

OVERPOWERING

feeling or emotion that prevents reflection. 

Passion, in its very definition, annihilates reason and suppresses caution. 

Indeed I have a passion for ... 

Fill in the blank. 

Unfortunately for me, my attempt to replace the "dot, dot, dot" returned void. The only comfort upon this realization was the feasible assumption I was not alone. Look around. Passionless people surround us. 

Few notice and even fewer care. 

But not all. 

No, not all. 

 Why?

PASSION IS CONTAGIOUS. 

Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz, used to hate jazz music. But then, one day, he watched a street performer play jazz music for forty-five minutes. The musician didn't open his eyes once. After that day, he loved jazz. He concluded that sometimes it takes watching someone love something to love it yourself.

I have a "Donald Miller" experience every time I see a dancer perform. It stirs something in me. There is something powerful, almost mesmerizing, in dance. If a heart of passion is being expressed in movement, I have a difficult time remaining in my seat. My heart wants whatever it is the dancer has managed to find.

But longing for a passion is not the equivalent of passion itself. 

While a passionate person stirs a desire for passion, man is rarely able to instill passion secure enough in a heart to ignite a movement. 

There is a disconnect. A disconnect between our desire and our reality. 

"WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS IS THE IMAGE OF PASSION, NOT PASSION ITSELF." 

-Roland Barthes 

Why? 

Let us look to Jesus's definition of passion. 

Acts 1:3


To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Passion- also translated: suffering or enduring; specifically referenced the time period between the Last Supper and the Cross. 

This was the passion of the Christ. 

For years, "passion" was referring to the suffering and martyrdom of the saints. Then in the 1580s, a sense of sexual love was first attested to in the meaning of passion. And by the 1630s, passion simply pertained to strong liking, enthusiasm and predilection towards something. 

I can just hear what must be running through the readers mind as he reads this. 

Ok, the word means something different now. Why go back to its original meaning? 

Because... my question is: has the meaning of the word really changed? Or is it our understanding that's shifted? 

You see, I believe we sell ourselves short when we equate passion with happiness. Look again at the descriptions and definitions of passion. Happiness may at times be a small part of the picture, but it's not the complete picture. 

How many wrong notes sounded out before the street musician was able to play without ceasing with his eyes closed? How much time, pain, and effort went into the "effortless" dance routine? 

ENDURING. 

Yes, this is the key. 

The reason we live passionless lives is because we refuse to bear the weight. 

The quote is worth repeating:

"WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS IS THE IMAGE OF PASSION, NOT PASSION ITSELF." 

And this is my question:

Assuming passion is contagious, if the result of Christ's passion was the salvation of our souls, what could this mean for believers who are willing to endure? 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I will not build my life around creating a security for myself that you've already secured. I trust your conclusion about me, not my own.

-TrueFaced