Passion Or Obession

Mossy Oak has long since had a marketing slogan ... it's not a passion, it's an obsession.

For those of you who read this blog and are of the non-outdoor type (we pray for your salvation), Mossy Oak is one of the greatest camo companies ever.

Today I've just started a new read. A John Piper book, "When I don't desire God." It's a book about fighting for joy; the struggle for it, all that good stuff. I've not read a lot of Piper, but I am fixed on this topic and have been for years.

A verse that has meant much to me over the last 5 or so years comes from John's gospel. He recorded Jesus saying, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come to give you life." (10:10)

For so long I believe Christians have been told that pursuit of joy is selfish. So I've always had this guilt from enjoying anything too much. Like it was as if I was enjoying "the world" too much. Which I've always hated that phrase anyway ... the world. Pretty much every person I've ever been around who was constantly using that phrase didn't live on the same planet I did. They lived in some remote spiritual village in their mind where they were just, quite simply, better and more holy than anyone else. I know what they mean by "the world" and I agree that we should not find our eternal hopes in it. Agreed.

Yet I must say that I believe God put things on this earth and in this "world" to be enjoyed. Like steak. Like a good SunDrop on a hot day. Or sex (with your wife). Like my son's "tough face" whereby he shows me how tough he really is. Like fishing. Like shooting a big bull elk while standing at 12,000 feet seeing vistas never before encountered. We could go on for hours.

See I believe that God is not offended if we get happy. I believe He's offended because we aren't happy enough.

Nietzsche, that great atheistic philosopher, once said that he would have given more thought to Christianity, yet he never met anyone at his father's church who seemed to be happy.

So where is all this random stuff headed? Let me tie it together.

I believe that Jesus wants to give us joy, and He's the only One who can do it. And yet I don't think that having a passionate obsession with the outdoors, or car racing, or wood work, or riding Harleys, is bad or wrong. I believe it's when we look to those things to bring us joy or as a substitute to our spiritual nourishment ... that's when it's an obsession worth reframing.

Several years ago God liberated me from my guilt of wondering if I loved hunting and fishing too much. So He told me to put a Kingdom agenda on it ... and the rest is ...