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In his book, Finding God, which I highly recommend, Larry Crabb said, “Maybe the problem is not that our bad passions are too strong, but that our good passions are to weak.” (That may be a slight paraphrase, but the essence is there.)
In other words, we often settle for the temporary pleasures of sin because we’re compelled by nothing greater. If I’m not living for anything greater than myself, then my personal comfort and pleasure become paramount.
That’s not to say that we’re free of temptation if we’re caught up in a worthy cause. The temptation to go our own way and get our needs met apart from God will always be with us. In addition, because the enemy of our souls has limited resources, I tend to think he most often attacks and tempts those who are seeking to invest their lives in God’s kingdom. But when I have no higher goal than myself then I have no hope of overcoming my bad passions.
I know what my bad passions are and I can probably guess one or two of yours. I also know this–it doesn’t work to just say to ourselves, “Stop it! Don’t do that again!” If that’s been your method for dealing with your bad passions…how’s that working out for you?
No, the solution is to have a new goal. But what?
Well, we already know it has to be bigger than us. Bigger than our own pleasure and comfort. Bigger than managing our sin. It has to be something that, in time, is all-consuming. Something that has the potential to overwhelm our bad passions.
It has to be even bigger than serving others, raising great kids or saving the planet. Those may be worthy goals, but they’re still not big enough. Our new goal has to transcend and be foundational to all other goals.
I propose that our new goal be this: to enjoy our love relationship with God to the fullest extent possible in this life.
Before my senior year of high school, my goal was to be an all-state football player. To achieve that goal, I dedicated myself to getting bigger, faster and stronger. I said “no” to other things, so I could say “yes” to training. I endured aches and pains for the sake of my goal. I never gave up no matter what setbacks I faced.
So what if the new goal was to enjoy God? To know His love and to love Him in return? To understand how He views me and how He feels about me? To know what He’s really like…not just what I thought He was like?
What if the focus was no longer on our bad passions, but on developing our new one?
Am I suggesting that we just go on sinning? No, check out Romans 6-8 for a discussion on that. But if trying not to sin was the answer, wouldn’t that have worked a long time ago?
The answer is to focus on your new goal. Spend more time with God. Read His word to get to know Him better. Listen to worship music. Talk with Him throughout the day. Talk with others about Him.
When your bad passions get the best of you–don’t let it keep you from seeking God. That would be the worst possible mistake. If you feel His conviction, then confess your sin and move on. Don’t dwell there. Don’t beat yourself up. If you feel guilty, then be reminded you’re forgiven. If you feel shame, then be reminded that He took your shame away. You are a new creation. You are holy and blameless. You are full pleasing to Him. If you doubt it, then spend some time in Ephesians 1.
Should we continue to say “no” to sin? Absolutely.
But shouldn’t we be giving just as much time and energy (or more!) to saying “yes” to enjoying God’s love and grace?
If we do, I suspect our good passions will give us the strength to eventually overcome our bad ones. All the time? No. That’s for heaven…where we’ll be forever caught up in only our good ones.
(By the way, I made the all-county team and 2nd team all-conference, but not all-state. Probably better than if I’d had no goal at all though.)