Dave’s Monday Blast – February 23, 2015
Once each quarter I teach a class at church on how to discover your spiritual gifts. One aspect of this process is to also identify “our passions”. I was privileged to have worked with high school students for thirty years and on occasion would inquire of them what they were passionate about. I could always tick off a few issues of social justice — the plight of the poor, the rights of minorities, the ending of slavery and sex trafficking, the needs of the orphan and widow. While all of these things are absolutely worth our passionate pursuit, one critical thing was always absent from the list…a strong passion for the Word of God. It is clear that the Bible teaches us to seek justice for the oppressed, but its longest chapter is a meandering poem about itself (read Psalm 119).
Intentional men of God know that their primary passion must be for His Holy Word. The Psalmist wrote of his passion for the Word in Psalm 119 by asking questions like do we “delight in His decrees” (v.16) and rejoice “in His laws as much as in riches” ? (v.14) Are we “always overwhelmed with a desire for His regulations”? (v.20).
God’s laws may not tug on our hearts like the sad and weary eyes of the orphan, but we must never forget that the primary reason we care is because God cares, and His Word instructs us to fight for them. “Seek justice. Help the oppressed,” urges Isaiah. “Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the widows”. James concurs: “Pure and genuine religion…means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:17).
We must INTENTIONALLY cultivate a passion for the Word of God. Here is one way to tell whether our right concern for some social injustice is replacing our passion for the truth of God’s Word. When we read something in Scripture that seems to oppose the rights of others, do we brush off the passage, or do we submit to it as God’s best for them? For example, do we believe God when He declares that homosexual practices are sinful (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9), or do we look for a rationale to accept this behavior?
Remember…the best way to love people is to love God’s Word. Make Scripture your primary passion, then do what it says. Others will be blessed.
