During the early days of the Passion Movement, God connected our story to the confession found in Isaiah 26:8, specifically the last phrase, which says, “For your name and renown are the desire of our souls.” The heart of Passion is God’s glory, and God is most glorified in us when we live lives that are fully satisfied in Him. We pray that this scripture journey through Passion’s five core statements and prayers will encourage a posture of gratitude for what He has done and increase expectancy for what He will do in the future.

There is a great comfort available to us in the Scriptures. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reminds us of God’s ultimate and unmatched authority and authorship (Col 1:16-18.) Like a blanket, this reminder that God has always been and will always be should ease our anxiety; the truth that everything and everyone was created through Him reminds us of the deepest of embraces; we have never been accidental or abandoned.

Each of us was intentionally created by God. His hands graciously crafted us into existence so we could know Him and bring Him glory (Is 43:7.) The question of our purpose in life was, mercifully, answered before our first cry.

Amidst a world of changing tides, our heading remains the same because the one who created us calls us, drawing near to those who draw near to Him (Jam 4:8.) Above all of the calamity, God is giving you a clear set of instructions: know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (Jn 17:3.) This is the chief calling of our lives, it is the purpose of our art, the discipline behind our dedication, and the most worthy accomplishment of every exhalation.

What an invitation. Come, and know the God who created you. Knock on his door, and He has promised to answer (Rev 3:20.) There is no pursuit more worthy than this. No achievement holds a candle. The things we once considered paramount are cast aside for the sake of proximity to Jesus, our former stresses and striving washed off like the sweat of a long day as we become like Him (Phil 3:7-10.) What could compare to this? To make knowing and enjoying God the passionate pursuit of our lives?

The church has never been a building; it has always been a people. Saints and sinners, foreigners and strangers, grafted into the fellowship of the citizenry. We are God’s people. The church has been built on truth, the revelation of a mystery, handed down to us by the apostles with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. In and through Jesus, we make up the dwelling place of God here on Earth by His Spirit living within us. The Church has never been a building; it has always been a people.

And yet…

In today’s world, there is a push to forego this gift from God, to leave behind the Apostles and prophets, the evangelists, pastors, and teachers that Paul lists as gifts to the body given by Christ so that the Church could be built up for the works of service He set before us. Jesus so loves the church that she is often referred to as His Bride, the one he gave himself up for in order to make her Holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the Word. The Scriptures are full of the early Church’s love for her, of their drawing together under her banner instead of drifting apart over momentary differences. Followers of Jesus sold off property and possessions in order to take care of the least among them. They met daily, breaking bread together with glad and sincere hearts, all the while praising God for His gift of the Church as thousands of new believers flocked to join the great assembly.

The Church is a gift from God, established to bring Him Glory, and it is made up of us. We, the men and women who carry the Spirit of God within us, will never be perfect, we will stumble, and we will fall; but we will always get back up, trusting that the God who called us is faithful to see us through. We will need to extend and receive grace time and time again, and through it all, the Church will endure, bringing Glory to God as we live out our lives in a manner worthy of the Gospel.

Love one another.

It seems so simple, and yet all around us, the world bares out a different reality. Day after day, we are confronted with the result of sin and a broken world. Our feeds are full of anger and bitterness, our hearts and minds under a constant barrage of violence and vitriol. Here among more heartache than we were ever intended to absorb, a light shines in the darkness.

“Righteous Father, though the World does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17:25-26

When all around us seems hopeless, we are not without hope. God the Father sent His Son and His Spirit to see it so. As His chosen people, we are equipped to carry that hope with us to wherever we are called to the Glory of God Himself. Clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, our very way of life harkens light amidst the deepest darkness. We, the ambassadors of reconciliation, have every tool available to us that we could ever need.

And yet.

How often we choose a different path. We wander, we horde, we slander and sully. Our sinful nature causes rifts to appear and division to spread like a weed until, at long last, we no longer stand out for our brightness but for our bickering. We are, at times, a house in slow decay at the hands of negligence.

But God.

In His grace, God has offered us the kind of wisdom that comes from Heaven, wisdom that is pure and peace-loving, wisdom that is concrete, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, wisdom that is impartial and sincere. He has called us peacemakers and set before us a harvest of righteousness. God has not abandoned us, leaving us to our own devices. His heart is still turned towards us.

You are the Light of the World.

Why?

Why does God call us into His story? Why does he appoint us as Christ’s Ambassadors? Why does he send his helper, the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us and then call us to travel to the ends of the Earth as his witnesses?

For His Glory.

We who have been reconciled to God were so through Jesus Christ becoming sin on our behalf so that we could become righteousness. This transaction is the greatest act of love in history, and its story demands to be shared. God has chosen the very same reconciled sons and daughters to be the ones to do so. Our calling in life is to shine like a city on a hill so that as the world looks in our direction, they see, experience, and encounter Christ, ultimately turning towards Him in that same eternal reconciliation.

This is why we are commanded to live differently than those around us. It is the reason we work with excellence instead of excuses, it is why we go where the Spirit leads us, and it is why we pay close attention to our actions striving to live lives worthy of the Gospel. We do all of this so that as we shine, Christ gets the Glory. We ring our lives out on behalf of those around us so that they see His kindness and love. We respond to anger and pain with grace and compassion, so those who mock us will find themselves face to face with His mercy. We reflect his Glory into a dark world and, in doing so, call attention to the one who emanates the light.

In all that we do, we do it all for Jesus.

Worship and Justice have always been two sides of the same coin. They are inextricably linked; where the people of God go, so goes His Spirit and His promptings.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27

All over the world, God is seeking worshippers of all peoples to bring Glory to His name through the praises of their lips and the care of their hands. But how will these people bear witness to Jesus? Where will they first see and hear of His character and His sacrifice? How will the power of God move into their communities and cultures, ultimately conforming them to likeness with Jesus as the least among them are looked after and the destitute defended?

He will call and listen for the ones who respond.

“Here am I, Lord, send me!”

We, the carriers of his name, who God’s face has shone upon, we will be sent as His witnesses to the ends of the Earth. We who carry His Holy Spirit will learn to do right, to seek justice and defend the oppressed; to take up the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow. The servants of God must not bunker down in the safety of our community and wait for His glorious return, for what will our lives have been if we do? No, it is incumbent upon those who speak the name of Jesus with fear and trembling to move out into the world and across it, a light for all, shining in our words and deeds so that every nation, tribe, and people would hear that same name and be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What will we have been willing to lay down, to surrender, to run to in order to have an impact on the crowded streets of Heaven?

Our chance is here; our Father is calling.