Reflections...

Recently I have been thinking about the glory of God and my passion. Today I was thinking and in prayer this morning I wondered out loud to God am I really glorifying you? And what are my passions in life? I had to go look up passion in the dictionary and what I found was interesting.

1 the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death b : an oratorio based on a gospel narrative of the Passion 2 SUFFERING the state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces4 a (1) : EMOTION the emotions as distinguished from reason b : intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction c : an outbreak of anger 5 a : ardent affection : LOVE b : a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept c : sexual desire d : an object of desire or deep interest

What drives me? What is my strong devotion? What is my object of desire? These questions have made me stop in my tracks. Why do I get out of bed every morning? According to 1 Corinthians 10:31 everything I do needs to be with the soul purpose of glorifying God. Are my thoughts glorifying? Do I bring honor to my God through everything i do? Do people look at me and praise God because they see Him? It seems of recent that my object of desire has not been God. My heart longs to be in that place where I hate my sin as much as God does. Where I love Him more than this world and its attractions. As my focus turns towards God and away from the unrully passions that have seemed to control my life recently I have had to take a step back and look at my life. I long to be married and be that wife and mother I see so well modeled by certain women around me. I long to be a missionary to go and tell others about my God. I long to be the best student and graduate well (that one comes and goes! :-) I long to know what God wants with my life. But in all these longings what is my purpose? What is my purpose for wanting to be a missionary or get married or be an excellent student? Do I want these things so that I can better love the Lord God with all my heart mind and soul? Maybe. These are all wonderful passions but if I look to a man to fulfill the longings of my heart if I go to the mission field because there are needy people I've missed the boat. God is to be my one passion. He alone can fulfill the desires of my heart He alone is the one I should seek to go to the mission field for. I recently heard excerpt of a message that spoke about getting back to the glory of God. We wonder why our churches are in the state they are in? We wonder why our churches are full of dead people? Where is our focus? Who are we trying to please? What is our passion?