Sumadores y Restadores de N´ umeros Grandes

Passion comes from inspiration and is a vital catalyst for leadership. We have seen that a catalyst is “an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action.”18 Michelangelo was so involved in painting the Sistine Chapel that he went for weeks without changing his clothes, stopping only to get something to eat or to take a brief period to sleep.

That’s a passion for purpose! Life with purpose provides the fuel for passion, persistence, and perseverance.

The Catalyst of Passion Passion Motivates

When a leader is passionate about his purpose and vision, he does not need others to motivate him to work. He is his own motivation. He is a self-starter. He has a drive to work out the details of his vision plan. His passion directs the management of his time, resources, and priorities. He organizes his life to be able to fulfill his vision and is frustrated when he is unable to work toward it.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Do you have a vision that gives you a wholehearted motivation for living and working? One sign that you have come to understand your true purpose is that you possess a passion that motives.

Passion Energizes

Someone who is doing what he was born to do is filled with energy and excitement. He can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning. How many people drag themselves to work, push themselves through the day, and long for the weekends?

Leaders have a strong desire to fulfill their visions. They can’t sit still until they’ve made progress toward them. Here is an indication of whether or not you are pursuing your true purpose: If you are able to eliminate what you’re doing and still be happy, then you’re not passionate about it.

The leader’s energy also gives him consistency. He doesn’t stop working because of boredom or the myriad distractions he encounters daily. Sometimes, he even has to remind himself to eat or sleep. He wants to be doing what he is doing. Working on his vision doesn’t deplete his energy but only seems to fuel it.

Passion Renews

Passion not only motivates and energizes, but it also renews the whole person. It satisfies the spirit because the person is fulfilling the purpose of his Creator and is doing what he was meant to do. It refreshes the soul because pursuing purpose and vision brings interest in life and hope for the future. It also often reinvigorates the body, giving people energy they never knew they had, relieving stress and tension, and sometimes even lessening or alleviating other physical symptoms.

Passion Fortifies

Passion causes people to keep going regardless of

obstacles because they are focused on fulfilling their purposes.

In this way, it gives them both persistence and resilience. Newt Gingrich said, “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”19

Persistence, resilience, and perseverance are essential because opposition and setbacks are part of the process of fulfilling vision. Moreover, these qualities are especially needed when a leader experiences failure. Passion for purpose stirs him to get back up and keep moving toward his vision.

An Unconquerable Force

Passion is a desire that is greater than opposition and stronger than death. This idea is expressed in the Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon: “Love is as strong as death.….It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned” (Song of Songs 8:6–7).

It was passion that led Florence Nightingale to discard her personal opportunities in order to bring comfort to the sick and wounded on and off the battlefield. It was passion that caused theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer to join the German resistance during World War II and give up his life to free his country from Hitler and Nazism.

We see that passion for purpose is stronger than death when a person’s vision is captured and carried on by others after he dies. It was passion that motivated Mother Teresa to

resign from her teaching job and devote her life to helping the poor and outcast. Today, her legacy and work continue in the lives of those she has inspired. The greatest example of a passionate purpose greater than death is Jesus Christ. He said,

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The power of His life, death, and resurrection changed the course of history, reconciled untold numbers of people to the Creator, and gave humanity eternal hope for the future.

Communicating Your Passion to the World Expressing passion for purpose takes a variety of forms because every person’s vision is unique. Let’s look, therefore, at three general areas in which passion is communicated in tangible ways. These areas overlap at times, but they can be identified as distinct expressions of passionate vision.

A Passion for Creating, Building, or Producing Some people express their passion for purpose primarily through what they create, build, or produce. Whether it is the making of a work of art, a building, an invention, or an organization, the outcome is a reflection of a passion born in the heart and carried out through the mind and body. A passion for depicting movement in sculpture led artist Auguste Rodin to bring about a revival in the art form.20 A passion for creating buildings led architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design and oversee the construction of many famous structures, such as the Johnson Wax Building in Wisconsin, Fallingwater in

Pennsylvania, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. A passion for invention inspired Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and others to produce many of the forerunners of the conveniences we enjoy today, such as the lightbulb, phonograph, and telephone. Do you have a passion to create, build, or produce?

A Passion for Positive Contribution

Other people express their passion for purpose through their efforts to bring positive advancements to the world. Let’s look at just one area: medical advancements. A passion for eliminating disease led Louis Pasteur to prove that germs are connected with disease and to invent the process of what became known as “pasteurization.” A passion for healing inspired Clara Barton to found the American Red Cross. A passion for saving lives led Willem Kolff to invent the first artificial kidney dialysis machine. A passion for seeing children live healthy lives has motivated actor Jerry Lewis to devote decades of his own life to raising money to fund research to cure muscular dystrophy and to assist those who suffer from it.

Do you have a passion for a positive contribution in the world?

A Passion for Eliminating Wrongs Still others express their passion by working to eliminate wrongs in society. J. Oswald Sanders wrote, “Leaders who have impacted their generations did so only after they got angry at injustice and abuse among men.”21 Some people’s visions are born out of something they are angry about. They

may be angry about unethical behavior, homelessness, crime, or hunger. Those who love the Creator and His ways hate wrongdoing. They hate the pain it causes people so much that it makes them mad. I get angry when I see young people being destroyed by drugs. I hate it. I love those young people, but I hate what is killing them.

A true leader hates the things God hates. Jesus became very angry with those who were using God’s holy temple as a market. (See John 2:14–17.) He also became angry with those whose hearts were so hard that they didn’t want a man to be healed because of their own selfish agendas. (See Mark 3:1–5.) God hates pride but loves mercy. On a different occasion, Jesus quoted these words to some of the same people: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13; see also Hosea 6:6). Paul became angry with those who were preaching legalism and drawing the Galatians away from freedom in Jesus Christ. (See Galatians 5:11–13.)

The wrongs of society stir up true leaders to find just and practical solutions. Compassion itself can be a product of anger against that which hurts humanity. Yet leaders must be careful to properly direct their anger so that it results in real solutions rather than just rage and frustration. They must also guard against cynicism and despair. Indignation against evil becomes a legitimate vision when a leader’s passion is channeled in positive and constructive ways. Do you have a passion to eliminate wrongs in your nation or in the world?

From Inspiration to Implementation

Are you beginning to see the connection between purpose, vision, and passion? Passion enables us to move forward with our God-given visions, to go from inspiration to

implementation.

What are you passionate about? Are you frustrated because you would truly like to do something that you haven’t yet been able to? Take some time to consider what motivates, energizes, renews, and fortifies you—or what would generate those effects in you. Then, think about how to communicate your passion to the world, because passion is the catalyst for leadership.

Chapter Nine