What are you passionate about? Is there something in your life that has you motivated and excited? What is it that gets you fired up? One of the things I love about younger kids is that they have the distinct ability to get fired up about nearly whatever is in front of them. As soon as interest takes hold, they tend to be all in; all at once! This past week one of the couples in our church in an act of great kindness to our younger boys purchased kites for them. As far as I know, this was our boys first experience with kites (at least since they came to live with us). In their eagerness to plumb the depths of this new experience the boys threw themselves into kite construction… before church last Sunday morning disregarding their normal morning routine (much to the chagrin of my loving wife). Now as adults, most of us have a pretty good deal of kite experience. We know the good and the bad that comes with kites. Things can go well or things can go poorly, often dependent on only one factor: wind. So with kites constructed I informed the boys that without the right wind the experience was bound to be disappointing and then I advised that they should wait till we got a more windy day. Were they willing to wait? Of course not! Instead they let out about a foot of string and went sprinting around the yard creating their own wind to keep the kite flying a few feet above their heads. They did that for a long time. Racing around the property sweaty and breathing heavily, with huge grins plastered on their faces, they terrified the chickens by making them think some new predator bird was swooping in for the kill… boys! A blessing came their way, and they were not willing to let the opportunity pass them by they threw themselves into the experience with abandon. They were ardent!
This week’s message centers in on the term “ardent” it means eager, devoted, or zealous. We want to look at the story of Joseph and examine what this most Godly man does when things start going his way. There are generally two responses that people have to windfall opportunities in life. One response is to take it easy and rest on your laurels. Success means you congratulate yourself, relax, and begin focusing on “the good life”. The other response is to throw oneself passionately into the work ahead. Rather than letting up, you double down, going all in with zeal. To use our plodding metaphor, when the trudge forward starts feeling like a downhill trot do you pull back or lurch forward with gusto? When it comes to our spiritual labors I think we all can guess which attitude the Lord would rather have us exhibit. Join us this week as we discuss Joseph, “Ardent in Achievement”
