A man buys a plot of land and sets out to build his dream home on it. He’s been saving up his whole life for this moment. He has house plans in hand, having spent years designing and redesigning, balancing aesthetic with function. Since he designed it himself, his intention is to build it himself. He just can’t risk having another, less passionate, builder put their hands on it. The only problem is that he doesn’t have any training or experience in architecture.
So, he builds the house. During the first rainstorm his basement floods and the side of the house caves in because the soil wasn’t compacted to code. In an instant, his dreams are washed away with his dream home. It turns out that his passion accounted for very little. What he really needed was knowledge of house-building.
Passion and understanding are two very different things. You can be incredibly passionate about something but without proper knowledge, your goals will never be met. For example, if your passion is for the Lord but you never take the time to read your Bible, how do you expect to please Him?
Passion is never a substitute for knowledge.
I’ve met a lot of people who, for a season, appear to be incredibly fervent for the Lord. They say things like, “I just love the Lord with all my heart!” However, their lives betray them. They are quite often unstable, emotional train wrecks. Sure, they exhibit some type of excitement for the things of God, but there’s no foundation for it – only superficial, fleeting emotions. This type of passion is unsubstantiated by Truth and when it fails them (it always does), they blame God for not holding up His end of the bargain. What they fail to realize is that God never bargained with them in the first place (certainly not on their terms, as they apparently have supposed)!
Passion without knowledge breeds partiality in favor of one’s presuppositions about God, where wrong assumptions lead to poor decisions. Peter was famous for this (read Matthew 16:21-23). The Apostle John said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). There’s a lot of misinformation about who God is and what is pleasing to Him, so we must be very careful to whom we listen.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
– Ephesians 5:6-11
The Lord is very explicit about what is pleasing to Him. We mustn’t ever make assumptions, lest our hopes and dreams be dashed in an instant like those of the foolish builder!
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
– Colossians 1:9-12
Passion, by itself, has never built anything that lasts. If you desire to build a life that is truly pleasing to the Lord, then do so based on Truth. Never make assumptions. There’s only one way to build anything worthwhile in this life and that’s on the Rock (Jesus Christ).
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 3:11
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins