“On the other side of our pain is purpose, and passion paves the way.”

While googling the etymology of the word, “passion,” I learned that it points straight to the sufferings of Christ Jesus on The Cross. The image of the Invisible God wrapped Himself up in flesh, descended from Eternity and tabernacled with us. After three highly effective years in ministry, He took that Cross with a relentless passion, so that we may take ours too. There is nothing that He asks us to do which He hasn’t already modeled out for us. And that includes the crucifixion of the flesh.

So, when I use the term, “passion,” in this context, I’m referring to Jesus’s crucifixion. I’m thinking what could possibly give our Savior the zeal to do what He did for us, if not to leave an incontestable evidence of God’s Agape Love towards us. The Bible says He did it for the joy set before Him. Clearly, rewards are important but I believe passion remains the driving force.

Life is anything but a bed of roses. In sharp contrast, it actually is a battlefield between the forces that are for us and those that are not. Loss, grief, disappointment, betrayal, failure happen to all of us, leaving us a bit broken, a bit marred, a bit scarred. The passion of Christ however, assures us that even though things may happen to us, they do not get to define us. Only the Truth of God’s Word does, and His Word says that our brokenness in His Careful Hand produces a wholeness that can only point to His Highest Name. Our pain, when entrusted to The Only One who is wholly trustworthy, finds a purpose in ways that are uncanny, mysterious, glorious. It is a purpose that when discerned through Heaven’s perspective, fetches us an Eternal Glory. This is why The Bible says,

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

Pain is temporary, but what we do with it can be Eternal. Pain can make us bitter or better. With God’s help, we can forgive, let go of things that are behind us and press on towards a purpose that is so saturated with love, grace, mercy, kindness and a sincere desire to help our brethren so much so that it makes the kingdom of darkness tremble. Things won’t always go our way, but when we realize that God can take our mess and make it into a message, our test into a testimony, and translate our pain into a purpose for His Glory, it truly changes the game.

Pain looks different for everyone. It can look like a teenage pregnancy, a background of abuse, a child gone astray, a marriage on the rocks, a vision that came plummeting down, a dysfunctional family and the list can go on. It can look like a struggle to make ends meet or take the form of generational curses that only the Power of God can break. It could be anything, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that with the help of God, we find the purpose behind our pain and go on an ardent quest to see it come to full manifestation, for our good and His Glory.

In my experience through life thus far, I can say that passion will bridge the gap. Passion that has been demonstrated by our King and points straight to the crucifixion of the flesh.

Why do I say this?

I say this because when we have endured all that life has hurled our way, there will be toxic waste and residue such as bitterness, anger, malice, unforgiveness, self pity, blame and shame. Such things have no place in our lives that have been bought with a price too heavy to even comprehend. Through the price that was paid, we have access to Heaven’s resources. All we have to do is simply activate that which has already been entrusted to us. We have The Holy Spirit to help us realize how God, in Christ, has forgiven us of our very many sins, that we may learn to forgive too. That perhaps is the most important thing in the life of a believer, and something we all struggle with.That is why it a part of the crucifixion of our flesh. The Word informs us that the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But I have realized that it is only when we make a decision between God and us to freely forgive that we permit God to create a healthy, life giving environment on the inside of us that can serve as an invigorating womb to birth all the dreams that God had in His mind for us, even before He laid the foundations of the Earth, even before the beginning of time. I like the way Christine Caine puts it,

“We are a product of Eternity, positioned in time, and given gifts and talents to serve our generation.”

However, in order to be in a position to serve, we simply must come to a point where we allow God to deal with the issues of our heart, to sanctify us, and to honestly confess to Him as Psalmist David did,

“create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Once we have confessed, committed to a cleansing process, allowed God to create within us something new, we will be in a position to answer our calling and manifest our purpose in the Earth. Passion, the crucifixion of our flesh, will embark us upon a journey of evolving into the highest and best version of ourselves. Hate will give way to love. Self pity will give way to self worth. Anger will give way to compassion. Shame will give way to freedom. Fear will give way to faith. Death will give way to life. As Jesus says,

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Jesus is the Way to The Father’s Heart, and what He would have us become as a result of being transformed and conformed to the image of His Son, a process that can take us from the pit to the palace, creating within us a story that will point many in the same direction. That is our Purpose, friends.

Having said what I believe He revealed, it is my earnest exhortation that instead of despising our pain, we will learn to embrace it, release it and transform it into a Purpose so gigantic in its scope that there will be a day on Earth as it is in Heaven when we will look back and thank God that He allowed us to walk through what we thought would be the end only to find that it was, in fact, only a divine invitation into another new beginning, a fresh start, a grand adventure that sees our pain seamlessly morph into Purpose; while passion serves as the bridge between the two.

Simply because there is nothing left to lose, but everything to gain and everything to give.

Selah.