As I look around today, I think COVID has done a number on us! I see people everywhere living in fear. Many are lethargic and just worn out mentally, emotionally and/or physically. We are weary of the pandemic, global issues, and problems within our own countries. We seemed to have passed out of the world we once knew and found comfortable, into a new and different world in which we’re not quite sure how to navigate.

Sadly, our society seems so wrapped up in trying to navigate this strange world, the pause button seems to have been pressed on potential and passion and we’ve settled for the status quo of the world. No one is fully exempt from that which has been cast upon us, we all just handle it differently and each of us is in a unique place.

How do we release the pause button and rediscover our God-given passions? How do we reignite the potential God has placed within us? How do we grow beyond the status quo of just making it through one day at a time?

For believers in Jesus, it begins by remembering the power of salvation. 2 Peter 1:1-4 reminds us just what that divine power has done within us! (Take a moment to read that passage…we’ll wait!) The word translated “power” is the Greek word dunamis, from which we get our English word “dynamite.”

But let’s think even bigger than that! Ancient Greek philosophers theorized that everything on the earth was made up of tiny particles called atomos (from which we get our English word “atoms”). Fast forward to more modern times and scientists knew there was massive amounts of energy in those tiny particles. They just couldn’t prove it until 1942. But when they did, the great power and energy emanating from those itty-bitty particles was beyond imagination!

So it is with you and me! The Almighty God of the universe created us with supernatural, atomic-sized power and energy! It is just waiting to be unleashed! Just as scientists discovered that the right setting and the right stimulus applied to those tiny, but powerful, particles would create an explosion, we will discover God’s power in amazing ways when it is unleashed in us!

Everyone of us has untapped potential and passion ready to explode! COVID can’t stop what God has built within us, and neither can fear, lethargy or any other thing!

Here are some atom-splitting hints (borrowed from Dr David Jeremiah) to help you break out your potential and passion:

1. Look ahead, not behind. Get out of “woulda, coulda, shoulda land” and dive into Philippians 3:13-14. Forget the past, look to the future, and press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!
2. Be thankful, not resentful. Avoid being held captive by fear, resentment, regret or unforgiveness. Rejoice and be thankful in all things. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
3. Look for opportunities, not obstacles. Paul longed to visit the believers in Rome, but it took his arrest and appeal to Caesar to get him there! Following his release, he evangelized and ministered to the very people he had hoped to see! For Paul, prison time was just a small price to pay to be able to carry out the Lord’s call!
4. Focus on rewards, not results. We’ve all heard the stories of missionaries who spent years in the mission field before a single person came to know Christ. What propelled them to stay at it, despite the lack of “success?” They focused on the promises of God. (Galatians 6:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24)
5. Seize God (carpe deum) before you seize the day (carpe diem). Grabbing life by the horns is important, but not before grabbing hold of the horns of the altar of God! (Psalm 118:27)

Passionate Christians are passionate about our Lord Jesus Christ first! That passion then flows into the mission God gives us. You have great potential, my friend! May the atoms of passion for God and His call propel you well beyond the orbit of the status quo! I’m praying for you!