“‘If you want people to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea’” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
We are driven and motivated by our passions (desires). What we passionately love and give ourselves to is what will form our hearts. This quote is old but it’s good. Henry Scougal wrote, “the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by what it loves.” Another way of saying this is that we become like what we look at the most. Apostolic passion flows out of a heart that has been captivated and ravished by the beauty and purposes of the God who calls us to himself. As InnerCHANGE we want to fan into a flame the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). We will do this by cultivating our knowledge and vision of the one in whom we believe, by setting our gaze intently upon the Jesus of the scriptures and learning how to immerse ourselves in the life of the one who came to seek and to save that which is lost. He is also the one coming again to judge the world in righteousness. Apostolic passion is inflamed by learning to “long for the endless immensity of the sea.” It is not obtained primarily through skill development or busying ourselves with “missionary” type tasks. It will flow out of immersing ourselves in the testimony of the infinite immensity and beauty of Jesus and his purposes for the world.
Passion needs to be nurtured. There is so much in our world to distract and discourage us from loving what is truly lovely and valuable, therefore we cannot take for granted that passion is something that can be sustained for the long haul. Passion needs to be nurtured intentionally within a community that shares that passion together. The specific formation practices with which InnerCHANGE seeks to intentionally form the hearts of its members are practices that seek to immerse them in what is central and true about the gospel, and the particular gift (charism) of our calling together. They are meant to develop the habits of our hearts and stoke the fires of our imaginations about what is truly beautiful and of ultimate value. Jeremiah says,
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Are hearts are easily deceived and prone to wander. Other loves can subtly displace our first love. Our first priority is to aim at the heart, to watch over it diligently, to keep it in the love of God (Jude 21) by keeping it according to God’s word (Ps. 119:9). Apostolic passion needs to be nurtured and we need each other to keep it alive.
Passion brings a focus and energy to our life and work. We always give ourselves to what we love the most. We are driven by what captivates and delights our hearts. This is why first and foremost we want to teach each other to long for the “endless immensity of the sea.” We will “build the ship” if we can’t be kept back from the glories that beckon us to discover what awaits us on the sea. The apostle Paul stated it this way, “…so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named…(Romans 15:19–20).”
Apostolic passion calls forth apostolic ambition. This passionate love for the one we have come to know and believe in is really the only thing that will instill in us resilience and endurance in the midst of challenging contexts, heartache, disappointment, discouragement, suffering and persecution.
