What’s at the Core?

I hunger for a personal renaissance, a renewal of the Spirit in my life—and of my spirit. God has been showing me that.

Through lots of hard knocks I’ve lost vitality in what I do, with poor results and diminished passion. Some kindly disagree, but I hunger for more. And, as you may imagine, this has caused some discouragement and frustration. Perhaps you have felt the same way at times. I dumped my feelings on my pastor friends and my wife. They were very supportive, and I feel better. It’s good to have people who will listen to you dump.

To make a complicated matter simple, I’m discovering that I need to return to the core of my heart’s passions in life and why I began doing what I do in the first place. When what I do flows from who I am—without compromising—things will go better. God seems to be showing me that too.

I’m happier already. And in time, the results will show.

My guess is I’m not alone. If you’re anywhere close to middle age or older, you might relate to what I’m talking about. Life tends to pull us away from our original passions and shove us into what supposedly needs to be done. If you’re closer to being a kid, heads up, dude, it will come.

From childhood to adulthood to old age, our passions change. (The first thing I remember wanting to be in life was a garbage collector, because when I was six I thought their trucks were cool.) But as we mature and develop our core interests, purposes, and commitments in life, we must take care to never let them go—no matter what.

Are you living out the passions at the core of your heart? If not, what might you do about it?

PRAYER: Father, fire my passion. Work in me that my heart would always focus on what You have created and called me to be and do.

“I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 3:12b-14 NET.

Today’s devotion is by Peter Lundell, author of Prayer Power. A rising new voice on connecting with God, he is a pastor, Bible college teacher, and conference speaker. Visit him at www.PeterLundell.com for his inspirational “Connections” and free downloads of articles, parables, short stories, and book chapters.