DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PASSION

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – PASSION

"Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:5)

God moves in different people in different ways. For example, God "stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia" (vs. 1) to build a house for the LORD in Jerusalem. There were other kings before Cyrus. But God put this into the heart of Cyrus. It was God-ordained, and had been prophesied by Isaiah: "Who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, 'You shall be built,' and to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid'" (Isaiah 44:28). God had special plans for Cyrus that the other kings did not have.

Among the people of Judah still in captivity, not everyones' hearts were moved the same way. Some had a passion to return to Jerusalem, and some did not. And God made allowance for those who did not return. Their calling was to support those who did return to Jerusalem with silver, gold, livestock, and offerings for the house of God (vs. 4).

This is a lesson that I must keep learning. We are not all the same. Not everyone has the same passions. Not everyone's heart is moved in the same way as mine. For example, I have a passion for studying words. I love to research words in the Bible to study the various facets of meaning. That is boring to other people. They couldn't care less. Their passion may be for prophecy or some other thing, but that is not what lights my fire.

God moves in various ways in our hearts, and that is what makes the Body of Christ complete. If we all had the exact same passions, then there would be a lot of unfilled spaces in the kingdom.

One things unites us as Believers – our passion for the Lord Jesus and our desire to see His kingdom built. Just as the passion of people in Ezra's day was to see the temple built, so our focus is to see God's work accomplished. Some go and some stay, but our focus is the same – lifting up Jesus and His work.

Love, Dad