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After Avatar: Passion’s Threshold of Faith

By Bonnie Gray • January 12, 2010 • 17 Comments

Over the holiday break, I finally went to see the much buzzed about sci-fi flick, Avatar. The protagonist in the movie, Jake, led an ordinary life as a soldier. Then, Jake lost his legs in battle and gained the chance of a lifetime to dive into a new body and start fresh on an unchartered planet.

It sure was sheer fun, escaping for those two and half hours to a new world of adventures on the silver screen.

It’s no surprise the film’s a blockbuster hit. The storyline’s lifted straight out of the pages of our personal journals. Somewhere along our earthly travels, we’ve all lost the use of our legs, on the battlefields of life.

These are the legs to our passions.

As I sat there slurping my blueberry Icee, fishing out the last edible kernels of popcorn, I wondered, at what point did passion arrive at a pause in my life?

For a number of reasons, there was a season I decided to hold passion at bay.

I’m not talking about any particular passion, but more like everything in general that drives us to want, crave, and desire.

The Bible uses a very interesting word for passion — “Ta’avah“.  It showers us with a host of beautiful, invigorating and life-pumping words:

desire, wish, longings of one’s heart

Startlingly enough, included in Ta-avah is also:

lust, appetite, covetousness

Ah, yes.  The intensity of passion comes with a denouement of lack, frustration, and addiction — if it goes past the threshold of faith.

Passion’s Threshold of Faith

There is a threshold for passion that once passed, moves us past faith — and into our own efforts to fulfill our desires, wishes, and longings.

For some, there is passion in family, people, nature, dreams, hobbies, or ideals.  For others, the intensity surrounds other things.  Within every pursuit, we can want something so badly that it propels us beyond peace, joy, and freedom.

I have always had a passion for people, God’s Word and writing.  I am always doing the dance, a hypervigilance of keeping those passions within the threshold of faith.

Sometimes, I want to abandon them altogether and just not want.  Not desire.  In doing so, I can neither fall down and come up short.  I can never go past the threshold of faith.

But, a life without passion is less than it was meant to be.

How do I straddle the fine line of passion?

I make sure all passions are subservient to life’s TRUE passion:  God at work in me.

God at Work Trumps All Other Lowly Passions

There is a very important verse in my life that acts as the Trump Card.  It controls all other passions at play.

All other passions must die, bow, or dissipate under this One Passion.   It is the passion to allow God to do His Work in my life.

I’ve done a word study on some key words in this important verse — and I share it with you — inserting my reflections from the Hebrew root words.

Indeed, while following the way (path) of Your judgments (of what you decide is perfect for me),

O Lord, We have waited for You eagerly ;

Your name (Your work), even Your memory (when You work in my life), is the desire (passion) of our souls (where I crave meaning). Isaiah 26:8

When I find myself focusing on what I can do to fulfill my cravings for satisfaction outside of this, the Greater Passion will trigger me to abandon ship and pull back.  No matter what the cost.

I constantly ask God for the grace to pull the plug.

And so, the plug gets pulled regularly, at times when I would rather not.  Like a power outage that occurs whenever there is an overload of competing requirements, I am thankful the Holy Spirit makes sure everything else fails, so that I can return to my one and only passion.

What are your passions?

What is your experience of how God keeps them within the threshold of faith?

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17 Comments

  • Reply Christine January 12, 2010 at 11:00 am

    May this be the declaration of our hearts:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I17edLkBDCo

    God bless you!

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:32 pm

      Thanks for sharing this song! I didn’t know “One Pure and Holy Passion”. How awesome is this song. Beautiful. A worshipful addition to the post.

  • Reply jasonS January 12, 2010 at 11:09 am

    Amen. This is an excellent post- thank you! There is one passion to rule them all and we have to allow it the rightful place.

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:33 pm

      Making way for it’s rightful place. I like the sound of that!

  • Reply Kathleen Overby January 12, 2010 at 11:12 am

    “But, a life without passion is less than it was meant to be.” Too true. Well said.

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:34 pm

      I tried to not need it. And my heart just wouldn’t have it.

  • Reply Bridget Chumbley January 12, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Beautifully written, Bonnie.

    These words are so true:

    “But, a life without passion is less than it was meant to be.”

    Thankfully you gave some wonderful examples of how we can have passion within the threshold of faith! Thank you.

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:36 pm

      It’s a constant adjustment, with God’s grace and friendship to share along the way.

  • Reply Glynn January 12, 2010 at 11:51 am

    That Greater Passion is what He calls us to. Beautiful post, Bonnie.

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:38 pm

      It’s the highest calling that satiates.

  • Reply uberVU - social comments January 12, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheBonnieGray: New Post — After Avatar: Passion’s Threshold http://bit.ly/69PgIX When does passion go beyond faith?…

  • Reply Heather Sunseri January 12, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    “When I find myself focusing on what I can do to fulfill my cravings for satisfaction outside of this, the Greater Passion will trigger me to abandon ship and pull back. No matter what the cost.

    I constantly ask God for the grace to pull the plug.”

    These words spoke to me, Bonnie. I believe I will meditate over this for a while. Thanks for a wonderful post!!!

    • Reply Bonnie Gray January 12, 2010 at 10:39 pm

      We are similar in spirit, Heather. Grace and more grace.

  • Reply The Blessing In Learning To Wait | Faith Barista January 13, 2010 at 1:41 am

    […] [Today's thoughts continue from yesterday's post After Avatar:  Passion's Threshold of Faith.] […]

  • Reply Maureen January 13, 2010 at 3:56 am

    I too saw this movie this past weekend!

    hmmm, passions: I constantly have to go back and review or re-evaluate what my passions actually are, cuz I seem to get lost in all the “other” stuff in life. For me, faith and passion go hand in hand in a very tangible way…living on the mission field will do that to you in a MAJOR way!!!

  • Reply Helen January 13, 2010 at 9:56 am

    I haven’t seen the movie.

    I do think that being passionate about God’s work in our lives is important, even if I feel on pause at the moment.

  • Reply Anne Lang Bundy January 13, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Bonnie, there’s also the roots of the English word “passion” to be considered. It comes from the Latin pati, “suffer.” Webster’s first definition of passion is Christ’s Passion, and the second definition [obsolete] is “suffering.” Pain can bring us to the point where we pull back instinctively, experiencing less agony and therefore less ecstasy than we might otherwise.

    I’m convinced that allowing the depths of passion to drive us to unparalleled triumphs also opens us to unparalleled suffering. Walking in the Spirit, passion’s pain washes over us without drowning us; ignites us without burning us.

    But if we’re not walking closely with our Lord, passion can overwhelm to the point of despair. Pain is then given a place and a purpose—to drive us back to the Lord.

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