"What are you passionate about? Do that."
This has sounded like solid advice when I’ve given it, but recently, when the answer was not easily found, I began to see the loopholes in this philosophy.
First, my passions are constantly changing. If I chose to act solely out of those things that I am passionate about, I would never stick with anything. I’m sure the ADD adventurer would enjoy this ride, at least for a while, but what about those I committedto along the way? I picture a trail of disappointed people, who felt used and abandoned by me, as I followed my passions onward. Not exactly the legacy of faithfulness I read about in heroes of old.
My second concern with my “you do you” mentality, is how self focussed it becomes. I cannot tell you the amount of time I have wasted, trying to “discover my calling” whilst I ignored the very work God was doing all around me. My cause became my own call rather than God’s Kingdom, and I unknowingly put limitations and restrictions on what God could ask of me.
Doing the things I am passionate about will probably always be my favorite pursuit, but if I commit myself to make it my only pursuit, I miss opportunities to see God work outside my box.
When God’s Kingdom is my cause, He gives me opportunities to work outside my passions and calls me beyond my “strength finder” results. Then, I GET TO see His power at work and His Kingdom advance.
I think I was so weary of the “don’t say you won’t go to Africa” advice, knowing it painted a picture of a "god" who was waiting for every opportunity to do the opposite of what we were passionate about, that I swung my pendulum too far to the right. I created this "god" whose kingdom was built around me and my passions.
Somewhere in the middle of those lies the Truth. That God who created us purposefully and loves us unconditionally, knows that it will only be through passion AND sacrifice that His Kingdom will be our cause! When His Kingdom becomes our cause, we will follow wherever He leads, in whatever He calls us to, because ultimately HE is our PASSION.