Passion Fruit

By Dave Martin

Perhaps one of the reasons people have such a difficult time seeing the obvious is because they misunderstand the nature of a God-given passion. A God-given passion is about others; it’s not about you. It was given to you to benefit other people, and that is why others can typically identify your calling in life while you are groping about aimlessly in search of it.

If you are seeking your passion merely to feel better about yourself, you might have difficulty defining it. If you are seeking your passion because you want to live a nicer life, you might search forever. But when you finally realize that your primary passion is actually given to you because it impacts other people while fulfilling your own created needs, you will probably be able to narrow your search and finally recognize the passion that has been there all along.

You are here on this earth to bring glory to God and to serve him by serving others. It’s not about you. It’s about Him, and it’s about them. True passion always produces fruit: passion fruit. And fruit is never intended for the tree that bears it. Fruit always exists to benefit those who wander beneath the branches of the tree.

Passions that are pursued with selfish motives, therefore, only have a limited impact and a finite existence. But passions that are pursued because they benefit others are passions that are limitless in their scope. You have been given a purpose in life, because love is a giving thing. So success is not as much about being driven as it is about being given. When you are doing what you truly love to do, you will be compelled to give yourself to that passion, and your passion will enrich others. As President Calvin Coolidge so eloquently put it, “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”