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Impacting Scriptures

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Matthew’s Question to Madison: What scriptures continue to speak to you?

Of all the spiritual disciplines, reading scripture has typically been the way I most easily connect with God. That’s a big reason as to why I loved Bible school so much, and plan on continuing a more formal approach to studying the Bible.

To paint a bit more of a picture for you, when I was studying in Germany, there were 18.5 hours set aside each week to be in the lecture hall – 13 of those hours were with the lecturer. The other 5.5 hours were for other things. All good things, I admit. But at the beginning, I would get frustrated that they were taking away so many hours from studying the Bible. I got used to it eventually, but my roommates definitely laughed at me for wanting more lecture time.

I think the Bible is the coolest book around! It’s crazy to me that you can keep reading it, and still learn from it. No matter how much digging we do, we’ll never have it all figured it. There’s so much to glean from a book with so much information, yet can still fit in my hands.

For me, there have been some passages in the Bible that have stood out for me and have shaped the way I think and live – some have more recently have impacted me, and others have been glued to my heart for years. I’d like to share with you two of those verses.

Ephesians 3:14-21

This passage, in my Bible, is titled “Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth”. I don’t actually remember when I first took notice of this set of verses, but it was somewhere between 5 to 7 years ago. I continually go back to it and pray it over people, especially when I can’t formulate the words on my own. I’ve prayed it over each and every one of the 13 girls in my small group; I’ve prayed it over individual kids that I work with; I’ve prayed it over people I meet in the community; I’ve prayed it over friends from school; I’ve prayed it over my family and over myself. The words are very powerful for me! When you experience the love of God, even in little glimpses, you want other people to know it as well. But God’s love is too great for our human minds to fully understand, yet these verses are a cry to God to let us know more of that love He so willingly extends to us. Sometimes I get annoyed at myself for praying for things or for God to change something because, really, who am I to tell God what to do since He knows things at a much higher level than I do. Don’t get me wrong, God wants us to bring the things in our hearts and minds to Him, but I’m wary of it becoming a transactional relationship. These verses bring me back to the reason for it all. It all comes down to loving God, and then “your roots will grow down into His love and keep you strong” as you trust Him despite circumstances; despite emotions; despite what you think should happen.

Psalm 23

For my 23rd birthday, I read Psalm 23. It’s a pretty popular Psalm that many people have memorized, and because of its popularity, I actually avoided it – I’m an anti-trend person, and apparently it also applies to Bible reading. But this chapter hit me right where I needed to be hit earlier this year. I was listening to someone speak, and they put a greater emphasis on verse 5, which says, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” When it talks about enemies, not just here but anywhere in the Bible, I never know what to do with it since I think about enemies being people. I don’t have any enemies in that sense, so did those passages just not apply to me? Or should I create an enemy for myself? The person sharing described the enemies to be internal – the enemy of fear, or loneliness, or pride, or self-centeredness, or jealousy, or [fill in another internal enemy here]. I have lots of internal enemies. But as God prepares a table for me, and keeps pouring into my cup, never letting me leave, I’m encouraged by the fact that those enemies have no seat at the table. Now whenever I catch one of those enemies trying to distract me and pull me away from the table, I call it out and turn my gaze back on the One who invited me to the table in the first place.

I could go on and share other verses or larger passages that are significant to me, but we’ll stick to these two today. What are the verses that are significant in your life?

What is your passion?

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We all have things that we are passionate about and would love to spend all of our time on. What’s yours and how did you discover it?

The question of passion is an interesting one to ponder. There are things that I really like – dark chocolate covered almonds, ribs on the bbq, jazz music – and there are things that I really like to do – biking along the Thames River, exploring downtowns of cities – but I wouldn’t want to categorize them as passions.

Many people I know would say that they are passionate about a certain hobby, they can lose themselves in it for hours at a time and this is good. Often times they use these hobbies to bless others – I love seeing this take place.

But when Madison asked me about what I am passionate about, I had little difficulty in bringing to mind what “floats my boat” as the saying goes.

Now, before I state this passion, I want to set it up as not trying to sound “holier than though”, or that I am trying to “give the right answer”, after all, I am a pastor by occupation so perhaps there is an expectation that I’ll give a certain answer to “look the part.”

I have been honing this passion for decades, maybe without even realizing it, and it is only in the past few years that I have truly been able to fully state that it is a passion. It is something that I believe I’ll engage in until the day I move on from this life into the next.

Interestingly, I can live out this passion as a key component of my job which makes it all the more meaningful for me – I get paid to do what I am passionate about; it may be difficult to get me to retire:)

So, what is it?

I am passionate about helping other people find what they are passionate about. Finding out what they were designed to do. Moving to a place of congruency in their lives so that their skills and interests and experience all align.

Does this sound strange? Even as I write it, I’m wondering if this is supposed to be the answer? And yet, I love it. How do I know this is a passion?

1) I have many conversations about it.

I had breakfast with someone this week, and guess what? I guided the conversation into a discussion about his job, what he likes about it, what is difficult, what God may be teaching him in all of it and where it could be leading him. In essence, moving into his area of passion. It was meaningful, for him and for me.

This week, I had my regular Wednesday morning gathering with 3 other guys. The discussion moved into a conversation about where God may be leading them, what passions he has put into them. The glass board in my office was full of diagrams, outlining how they could begin to envision what their future could look like as they embraced God’s design for their lives.

2) I like to read about it.

Call it strange, but instead of a novel, I gravitate to books on mentoring and guiding others in life. Books that help me to help others on their life journey. These books are about helping people build good foundations so that they can enter into their God-given passions.

3) I am told that I do it.

These comments have been made to me more frequently in the past few years. With people I speak with at our church, I am often finding out about them, what they enjoy, what skills they have, how their experiences have shaped them. And then, when I see an opportunity come up at our church or another place in London to serve or a new job that I believe would fit them, I am excited to present the opportunity. Interestingly, I now have people come to me asking who I might know who would fit into a specific volunteer area of service. I thought that everyone does this, however, what I’m learning is that this is a passion of mine that doesn’t necessarily connect with others.

4) I get excited when I see someone experience living in their area of passion

When I speak with someone who just loves what they are doing, I am excited for them. When I am able to help someone move into an area of gifting and passion, to watch from afar how this has given them a new sense of purpose, it makes my heart leap.

I love the scripture 1 Corinthians 12. “There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its parts make up one body.” I have seen too many people moving through life without any thought to how they have been designed. They take on responsibilities because it is the thing to do. But they are missing out on so much. God has designed us all in unique ways. Why would we not want to live into those areas of life that are uniquely made for us?

So, I will continue to be passionate about helping people find their passions. The question is – what are you passionate about?

For the kingdom.