Read this article first:
http://48daysblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/lawn-mower-or-porsche/
I submitted this comment on his blog, but figured I'd also reproduce it here. Not that I have the answers; I just get tired of all this 'follow your passion' crap!!!
Previously, I wrestled with trying to define what my passion was. I lived in constant dissatisfaction and was always looking to the next "out", staking my hope on the vocation that would "save" me from my miserable work life.
While it is important to pursue understanding of one's own passions, the first step before pursuing that passion is to discern who owns it. The rich young ruler was passionate about his posessions, so much so that he went away sad when Jesus told him that to enter the kingdom, he had to sell them all and give it all to the poor.
Passion is not necessarily the guide to fulfillment. If it is our passion, we ought first to consider whether it is "OUR" passion or God's passion . . . whether we are looking to build OUR kingdom or God's kingdom. If it is OUR passion, we are then faced with the paradox of the Gospel: we either lose our lives by seeking to fulfill that passion, or we gain our lives by sacrificing OUR passion and self-serving authority over our pursuit of it for the sake of Christ.
The Porsche ought to consider whether perhaps God's plan is for him to have a lawnmower engine, and get in the way of traffic, and not fulfill everyone else's expectations, given what it APPEARS to everyone else he should be. The same designer that gave us the Porsche also gave us the VW beetle. I've always preferred the little bug; it was my first car, and the only car I've ever been passionate about. A Porsche (of the kind you speak about) would NEVER do!!!
It is God's passion that truly fulfills us; never our own.
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1 comment:
Good stuff!
I think mostly by the time I was considering schooling, I was guided into the "do what you're good at and will earn money" instead of "do what you love." I think you went the other way. (Well, most of what you love you were good at anyhow).
But great to point out that those passions can have 2 sources... or maybe God always gives us the passion, but we need to be mindful to worship him and not the passion.
Maybe God made the young ruler rich so that he could use that wealth to help the poor. But instead, he loved that wealth more than God, and went away sorrowful.
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