When Sin Is Linked to Passion, Look Out!

It’s possible to develop a series of passions throughout a lifetime of searching for fulfillment and happiness. The word passion is capable of evoking reactions ranging from extremely negative to warm and positive. Passion often is linked to anger and rage, to sexual desire, to love and affection, or dedication and commitment.

Samson was enraged when he realized his new wife had betrayed him. He was unprepared to pay a wager he made because he was convinced that he could not lose. Strong passion has the capacity to distort reality and impair judgment. It can cloud one’s ability to correctly assess situations or make contingency plans.

In anger Samson set a course of terrible consequences for his life. Passion can be described as a compelling force capable of defining your destiny. Proverbs 5:22 warns that sin coupled to passion sets a deadly trap. Yet passion for righteousness and forgiveness frees us from the shackles of sin and gives us hope. 

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For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

~Titus 2:11-12 New International Version

Positives and Negatives of Passion

In today’s culture, the word passion is loaded with sexual implications. Yet Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross are specifically designated as “the passion of Christ.” His determination to complete all God entrusted to him was his all-consuming passion. Passion motivates people to excel.

Without question, passion has the power to persuade a person to strive either for righteousness and productivity or for evil. It's possible to have more than one passion, each simultaneously striving for dominance. Alexander Pope, the English poet, describes a dominant "ruling passion that has the potential to conquer reason and logic." 

          Alexander Pope knew if passion overrules self-control, godly values can be overruled. The Apostle Paul offers encouragement: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful nature with its passions and desires by keeping in step with the Holy Spirit.” God gives hope and power to those who maintain this objective.  

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I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things your evil nature wants you to.  

~Galatians 5:16 The Living Bible

Consider yourself dead to worldly contacts: have nothing to do with sexual immorality, dirty-mindedness, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and the lust for other people’s goods, which amounts to idolatry.

~Colossians 3:5 Phillips – The New Testament in Modern English