A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend about her drama class she's in and she was telling me about her teacher, Patrick Daughtry. She said how much she loved his enthusiasm and passion for teaching. It made me think back to when I was is Patrick's Intro to Film and Video class last year. His teaching was what got me seriously interested in film. Patrick has an amazing ability to communicate and teach others. His passion for film and teaching helps to inspire me to be passionate about the things I love. This spawned a question in me, what am I passionate about?
Two weeks ago when I started writing this post, my focus was on how sick and tired I was of seeing Christians who were not as passionate about God as I thought I was. I saw myself as the good guy who had it all together and was following God's commands. I would compare myself to other Christians who I thought were the hypocrites and said to myself "well I am doing better than they are". I was focused on other peoples problems and neglecting to look at my own.
How absurdly arrogant of me, thank goodness I did not post what I had written before, and discredit everything I said this blog is about.
Since then I have had a change of heart and I now see that I am not as devoted to God nor do I spend as much time with him as I should. This realization has come as part of a process in the last few months as God has been working on my heart, enabling me to see things that I have been blind to in the past. I thought that I had my life all together and God was my first priority in life. However, after close examination I have come to realize that I have been deceiving myself and others. In reality God was not number one. Now I am on a mission to improve not through my own power but through Gods power.
I am continuing to learn that where I am today in my walk with God has been part of a larger journey in learning to follow Him. As I have grown God has shown me where I need to improve in my life and convicted me when I do wrong. I still make mistakes, it's part of life, but God's mercy and grace make up for what I lack.
Sometimes it seems as if I am constantly consumed by things that take my focus off God. I struggle to weed out the distractions in my life in an effort to put God first. My mission in life should be to Love and serve God, not discussing Scorsese films. My love for film sometimes overshadows my love for God. I find it easy to talk all day about my favorite films or bands with people, but I am not as comfortable with sharing about God, and how he has transformed my life.
Last week I thought this post was all done and I felt great about what I had learned and wrote. Yet, I did not post it because I felt that there was one more thing missing. Yesterday night I found the missing piece.
A quote by C.S. Lewis "Our passions are not to strong, they are too weak. For we are too easily pleasured." Lewis said what I have been struggling with and trying to articulate for three week in 16 words. The frivolity of my earthy passions disgust me, but Lewis' words give me hope and encouragement to live with passionate love for God, seeing all else as nothing compared to Him. All that's left now is to continue "Walking slowly, but never backwards."
When people consider themselves better than others, it shows that there is something wrong with them deep down emotionally. To look down on someone who you really know very little about can be very dangerous. It takes away from a realistic perspective on the world and existence. Many people become prideful and arrogant....it's just bad news! As for worldly pleasures, I would agree that we as humans(and Americans) have far too great of an emphasis on personal pleasure. Just try this: Wake up one morning and count how many times you see the word "comfort" before you go to sleep. I've got almost 80(mattress store)!!! HAHA!!! No, but really, I think that this is a great way to get a clear view on how important comfort and pleasure is to us in America. Great post E!
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