As human beings, we can be passionate about a lot of things: sports, music, food, or even passionate about other humans. But if you are passionate about something, you are consumed by it. You put everything you have into it—your heart, mind, body, and soul. You think about it non-stop and constantly share your passion with other people.

Passion is great because it cannot be faked and cannot be forced. When you look into the eyes of someone doing what they are passionate about, you cannot deny what you see. The dictionary defines passion as “any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love or hate” (dictionary.com). This definition made me think, “What am I passionate about? What am I consumed by?” Because being consumed by something is more than a hobby. It is something you cannot live without.

In today’s society, you are told to be passionate about your education, your job, your family. And that is not a bad thing. But what happened about being passionate about your God? He had so much passion for us that He left the comforts of Heaven just to die for us. He was so passionate about this world that He was betrayed, beaten, humiliated, hung, died, conquered, and rose again just to prove His passion. How do you prove yours?
Being passionate is not just knowing the Bible frontwards and backwards. The Pharisees knew the Word better than anyone. Passion is not about having skirts to the floor or sleeves to the wrist. Passion is more than an outside appearance—it is being utterly consumed through and through, inside and out. We can get so caught up in titles that we forget how we got those titles and where we came from. As Apostolic young people, we must be so passionate about Jesus and so totally in love with Him that nothing can pull us away or distract us from Him.

Are you passionate about your God? Are you consumed by Him day and night? These are things we young people should strive for. We should not sit back and expect to live off our parents’ passion. If you let a fire sit without giving it more fuel, it will burn out. That’s common sense.

So why would we, as Apostolics who have the keys to the Truth, sit back and not share it? And why would we, knowing the truth, just accept it, but not embrace it? We should be so passionate about our faith, and so soaked with belief, that when we are pressed against the wall, all that comes out of us is the Spirit of God. By being passionate about our God and our walk with Him, we are burning brightly for everyone around us.

We are an unstoppable spreading wildfire that no one can control. Where such a strong passion exists, there comes a
force with it. We must take this passion and show it, share it, love it, and pass it on. Our passion should speak louder than any words can. It should go before us and take the world by storm. When we walk by other people in our schools, jobs, communities, and even in our homes, they should know undoubtedly that there is something different about us. We are consumed by a call, a purpose, a drive, a force, a desire—we are consumed by passion.

We can’t force others to become passionate by the same thing we are, but we can live an example and leave a legacy. I truly believe if this generation would dedicate itself to this cause, we could see more people than ever before receive what we have. There has never been a time like now when this world was in search for something more. Any comfort it can find it clings to. If we can show them love, we can show them Truth. But we young people must stand up for our passion. We cannot let other things get in our way and distract us from what really needs our attention. We must love this passion and share it with the world. We must be consumed and completely captured by this movement.

So we all need to ask, “Where does our passion lie? What are we consumed by?”

My name is Tia Reynolds, and I am seventeen years young. I am a senior at Neshoba Central High School in Philadelphia, Mississippi.I was a 2012 Real McCoy, and I plan on attending Urshan College this fall. My biggest dream is to be used by God—to Him be the Glory!