These are days were people seem to be operating in increased passion. When you read an article, watch a tv report, scroll through social media, or even just listen to people on the street, they are communicating with an increased intensity. It seems like no one cares to hear a balanced point of view, being extreme is what drives engagement and clicks in our 2021 world.

Part of this is due to the emotional charged year we have been through but it’s not solely down to COVID, we were moving this way already. Maybe we feel we need to be more passionate, more extreme, to cut through how much other noise is out there. Maybe we are just more passionate than we used to be or maybe it’s stemmed from a culture where we listen less and speak more.

Of course, being passionate is not necessarily bad. In fact, it can be incredibly good. Passion is attractive, it’s important, we love to listen to passionate people. In the Bible the word zealous is often used to describe this emotion. People were described as being zealous for God, zealous for His word, zealous for what He had called them to.

I guess the question needs to be; What are we passionate about and why? Paul, a character who was well known for being zealous, writes this in Galatians.

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. Galatians 4:18 (NIV)

He is writing this in response to groups who have come to try and steal away the Galatian believers from God. Before this Paul underlines how they have been freed from slavery and is urging them not to turn back from that freedom. What Paul is underlining here is that the source is more important than the response. It’s fine to be zealous, fine to be passionate, but what is the purpose?

This leaves us today with a pretty obvious question.

Are the things we are zealous for today good?

Are they something that points people towards Jesus and the freedom He gives us or is our passion enslaving us to something not of Him. Followers of Jesus are called to be zealous…….provided the purpose is good!