Burn

Purpose is the reason you journey. Passion is the flame that lights the way.

It’s the middle of winter, it’s miserable outside and everything going on in the world can just get a bit too much at times. Somedays it seems as if the odds are stacked against us and we simply want to pull the covers over our head and escape from the craziness around us. Other days we feel okay, but all of a sudden, we feel frustration that we never even knew was there. The rules enforced in Victoria at the moment are playing a big part in the frustration of many people in our state. That might apply to you wherever in the world you are. So many of them simply don’t make any sense at all. One week, there are limits on everything, the next week it changes. You are only allowed 10 people at a funeral, but 100 people at a brothel. Maybe that is a sign of what decay we are living in. Footy players are given special permission to travel interstate for AFL matches, but parents aren’t allowed to visit their dying child in hospital. Maybe that’s a sign of how we worship stars, and how we have lost compassion for others. A crowd of 7000 spectators is allowed to watch a sport match, but a child who drowned on a school camp can’t have more than 10 people at the funeral. Maybe that’s a clear sign of how we have got our priorities messed up.

In spite of all the up-side-downess in the world, God is in control. He is blamed for the state the world is in, while at the same time, His Word is being denied and ignored. We need to remember that God doesn’t force us to do anything. We have a complete free will to do whatever we feel like doing. That is why the world is in the state that it is in. The notion to follow our desires instead of following our Creator has lead to a creation in turmoil. So it’s time to stop blaming God! There’s nothing we can do about what other people are doing or saying or feeling, but we do have control of our own actions and emotions. You and I can allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by the cold, by ridiculous lockdown strategies or by a world without morals, or we can find our strength in God. He warns us that we will have troubles. He tells us that we will never really fit in here on Earth because we are citizens of heaven. But He also tells us, that He hasn’t given us a spirit of timidity and confusion. Why then do we choose to be timid and confused? He has given us a spirit of power and love.

Scripture also talks about our minds being renewed. That means we need to stop allowing Satan to depress us. It means that, in spite of what’s going on around us, we need to make sure that it doesn’t affect the spirit that God has placed within us. Remember that a ship doesn’t sink because of what’s around it. It sinks because it allows what’s around it, to infiltrate what’s inside. Armed with a spirit of power and love, we should shine our lights in the darkness of any situation we find ourselves in. The only way we can do that is to choose not to allow God’s spirit within us, to be overshadowed by the world’s attitude. Too many Christians’ lights, have been dimmed because of how we allow the world to infiltrate our mindset. No matter what your circumstances, never let your passion fade. The worse the state of the world, the brighter your passion needs to shine. That purpose that God has given you, needs to shine brighter than the purposelessness of the world. And when it does, those around us will want to know what’s inside of us. By doing that, God will be glorified.