During the Republican National Convention this past summer, Dana Perino from Fox News made this comment. She said that the attendees were passionate, emotional, and inspired. Immediately my mind went to the spiritual. What should bring about those feelings in us?
I started with the New Oxford American Dictionary for the definition of these three words. I wondered if they would relate to us in a spiritual way. I was not surprised that they do.
Passion means strong feelings caused by a strong faith. Are you passionate about your faith? Just being passionate about your beliefs does not make you right. In Acts 14, Paul, and Barnabas were in the city of Lycaonia. After Paul healed a man who was said to be impotent in his feet, the people began to call Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercury. The priest of Jupiter brought oxen and garlands to offer sacrifices to them. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and ran among the people to stop what they were about to do. They told the people, “We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God…” These people were passionate about their idols, but their faith was misguided.
Paul told Timothy what he needed to be passionate about. He said, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (Second Timothy 3:16-17). We need to be passionate about the truth so we can be complete and ready to serve God.
Emotion means “Intentional Feelings.” There are many examples of those in Scripture who show various types of emotions. So, what do we need to be emotional? We want to have the type of emotions that allow our hearts to be touched with the Word of God.
Solomon once said, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” We don’t want that kind of emotion. We want the kind of emotion we can share with others.
Peter gives us the right emotion we need to serve God. “I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things” (Second Peter 1:13-15). We need to be like that. We need to make every effort to be passionate and emotional about how we live and what we teach so that others will recall those things when we are gone.
The word “inspiration” means to fill with urge or ability to do or feel something; to create a feeling in someone. As Christians, we need to be inspired so we can inspire others.
The Bible gives us a clear passage on inspiration. “All Scripture is breathed out By God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (Second Timothy 3:16-17).
The King James Version says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”. The American Standard version says, “Every scripture inspired by God.” Our inspiration should come from God-breath, God-inspired Scripture. We should only be inspired by what we find in God’s Word, not man’s ideas or teachings.
The Republicans may have been passionate, emotional, and inspired; but the kind of passion, emotion, and inspiration we have in our lives must come from God our Father, not be man. We need to show passion about our faith. We need to show our emotion in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. we need to be inspired by God’s instructions found in His word.
Sandra Oliver