So much of career and life recommendations today are built around the idea of pursuing one's passion. As a result, we have been made to believe that unless you are doing what you truly want, you're just wasting your time.
As important as passion is and as true as it is that God created us to be passionate beings, there's a problem that arises here because of one fact: Not all passions and desires are well-guided. Titus 2:12 tells us that God's grace teaches us to renounce "worldly passions." In as much as there are good passions to keep, there are also bad passions to renounce.
Because passion for things such as money, too much convenience, fame, attention, and other things takes us down the wrong path, not all pursuits of passions and desires are fruitful.
Here are four instances when passion and desire start wasting our time.
1. When We Focus Too Much on 'Doing What We Love'
Passion is popularly defined as doing what you love, and we often translate that to a vocational level. Just because you love singing, it doesn't mean you have to be a professional singer. God creates us for vocational and avocational gifts that can both bring impact to the lives of people around us if we steward these gifts and the time we use in doing them well.
2. When Desire or Passion Stays a Dream
We all have dreams and aspirations, but unless those dreams and aspirations translate to action, we're not going to go anywhere. Proverbs 13:4 tells us, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied."
If we have a dream, and we know it's from God, we are not just supplied with the grace to desire but the grace to act and pursue. Are you one to react to that grace by complying in action?
3. When We Desire Something That God Does Not
God has so much desires for us, but He also has things that He desires to keep us away from. Anything that goes beyond God's provisions for blessing and righteousness is called sin, and those are the desires that we are to stay away from. When we start desiring things that go beyond our boundaries, we put ourselves in a position to disobey, displease and ultimately distance ourselves from God.
4. When We Choose Desire Over Calling
Every single one of us has a unique and specific calling from God, and our job is to know what that calling is and to put all our energy and focus on pursuing that calling. Sadly, sometimes we can get distracted by other things around us that may not necessarily be bad or sinful things but just aren't what God calls us to do.
When we start allocating time and resources into these things, we not only duplicate the efforts of others who are called into that area, but we also lose time and resources that should be reserved for our specific calling.
