LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for February 6: Danger! Unbridled passion

In the movie titled The Passion of Christ, the word “passion” refers to Jesus’ brutal suffering and death. However, more often the word is used today to refer positively to a strong emotional commitment.

Young people beginning their careers are told to find their passion and go after it with everything they have. Some older adults decide to retire early from successful careers to pursue what they call their “real passion.” In these and other examples, being passionate is seen as a good and desirable trait.

This is true as well concerning Christians being passionate about loving and serving the Lord. Today, we can point to many examples in which religious adherents have acted passionately but harmfully toward themselves and others. As Christians, we must always match our passion for the Lord with faithfulness to his ways.

From this week’s passages, we have the opportunity to ask four questions to help us evaluate how we fulfill our passion for the Lord and, at the same time, remain faithful to his ways.

In 2 Kings 9 and 10, we are introduced to Jehu, one of the key commanders in the Israeli army. Elisha sent a young prophet to Jehu’s command headquarters to anoint Jehu king of Israel. After he anointed Jehu, the young prophet explained to him God’s assignment for him, “… You are to destroy the house of Ahab … avenge the blood of the prophets and the blood of the rest of the servants shed by Jezebel” (9:7). The young prophet gave Jehu God’s mandate and what the expected results should be: the total destruction of Ahab’s and Jezebel’s family, the priests and worshipers of Baal, and their places of worship.

In his passion to fulfill this calling, the first action of the new king was to confront and kill Joarm, the present Israeli king and Ahab’s son, along with Ahaziah, Judah’s king who also was following the worship of Baal. After killing Joarm and mortally wounding Ahaziah, Jehu confronted Jezebel and commanded her servants to throw her from her window where his horses trampled her to death. The wild dogs ate her flesh until only her skull, feet and hands were left (vv. 14-37).   

It is here we ask ourselves the first question:  “What is the basis of our passion?” In Jehu’s case, he fulfilled the calling God had given him to avenge the evil actions of Ahab and Jezebel.  In our passion to serve the Lord and, at times, confront and defeat evil, it is important to evaluate whether our actions are based on our relationship with the Lord, his purposes for us and our faithful service.

To continue to fulfill the prophet’s mandate to purge Israel of the influence of Ahab, Jezebel and Baal, Jehu then set his sights on the capital city Samaria, where all Ahab’s relatives lived.

It was a city he could not conquer through sheer military power. Instead of attempting such an assault, Jehu used intimidation and deceit to kill all of Ahab’s descendants. He convinced the leaders of Samaria, in order to save their lives and the lives of their citizens, they had to kill all 70 descendents and bring him their heads the next day (10:1-10). Up to this point in Jehu’s crusade, he had fulfilled his commission.  

After receiving the heads of these 70, Jehu traveled to Samaria. During this journey, he encountered some of Ahaziah’s relatives. When he found out who they were, he had them slaughtered. Although Jehu received more popular support for the killing of the friends, he had no justification to do so (vv. 11-14). Now his divine commission had now become a personal crusade motivated by his own personal ambition.

To give his own crusade more credibility, Jehu aligned himself with someone respected in the nation of Israel, Jehonadab (vv. 15-18). Jehonadab placed his name and reputation on the line when he aligned himself with the king. In a short time, Jehu’s passion to serve God had turned into a passion to go farther than his mandate allowed. However, there was no one to whom he was accountable.  

This brings us to the second question: “How do we stay accountable to the Lord in our actions?” If we want to be passionate in the Lord’s service, we must have someone who has a reputation of spiritual faithfulness to hold us accountable and evaluate our actions to make sure we stay true to the Lord’s ways.

In 10:19-28, we see Jehu completing his rise to power by deception. Pretending to be a convert to Baal worship, he summoned all the religious officials of Baal for a sacrifice to that god. However, it was his plan to kill all of the officials, destroy their temple and make that area the city’s latrine. Jehu carried out his plan with great precision and success. It was his passion and mandate from God to rid Israel of Baal and his worshippers. Through his deceptions, he was able to do it in one day.  

The third question we can ask is: “Do right ends justify wrong means?” In the “Baptist battles” of the last 30 years, both sides have used this tactic to the detriment of the gospel and the destruction of personal testimonies. It is important to remember as believers who are passionate about serving the Lord faithfully, we must guard against deciding a God-honoring goal justifies our taking ungodly actions to achieve it.

In 10:29-31, we find Jehu is selective in his passion. He opposed the injustice and Baal worship of Ahab’s family, but he did not oppose the idol worship of the golden calves established by Jeroboam. While he passionately carried out the Lord’s judgment against Ahab, he failed to follow God’s law wholeheartedly or to turn the people of Israel away from their idolatry.  

The last question we need to ask as we serve the Lord passionately: “When does passion fall short?” Passion falls short when we lose sight of God’s righteousness and replace it with our own. We honor the Lord by making sure we are as passionate about keeping ourselves true to his ways as we are passionate of fulfilling his will. As Jehu has shown us, unbridled passion not only is dangerous, it will destroy the testimony of God’s people and God’s purpose and will is negated.