Please, Do Not Follow Your Passions

Pam, a dear friend since the fourth grade, calls me a nerd. And she is right. As a nerdy educator, I delight in attending commencement ceremonies. It does not matter if the commencement ceremonies are for elementary, middle school, high school, or institutions of higher learning. The regalia, pomp, and pageantry of this educational milestone excites and inspires me. Mostly, hearing the conferring and witnessing the awarding of degrees inspires and excites me. As a boldly curious lifelong learner, I listen attentively to the commencement speaker—and often take notes.

As a professional commencement ceremony attender, one statement that I can count on hearing is, “Follow your passions.” This oft-repeated pithy adage is normally coupled with other statements like “Just work hard, and you can achieve your dreams,” or my all-time favorite, “You can be anything you want to be.” However, these commencement mainstay statements are pithy adages that should not be blindly followed, especially when considering one’s vocation and purpose.

Some Definitions

Let me define vocations and vocational purpose. We have many vocations or callings. To be a spouse is a vocation; to be single is a vocation; to be a parent is a vocation; to be a caregiver is a vocation; to be a responsible citizen is a vocation or calling. This article is about one’s vocational purpose. And here I agree with Os Guinness’s view from his book, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose for Your Life: Your vocational purpose answers the ontological question, “Who am I?”

In the film, Barbie, songwriter and singer Billie Eilish asks a vocational purpose question: “What was I made for?” As believers, we might say that what God has made you for, vocationally speaking, is your vocational purpose. For some, they know their vocational purpose early in life. But for many of us, we must embark upon an exciting, and often disappointing, nonlinear journey to discover our vocational purpose.  In the words of Eilish, we must persevere until we can confidently answer the question, “What was I made for?”
As you embark on this nonlinear journey, let me offer three cautionary reasons why you should ignore commencement speech advice and not follow your passions to discover your vocational purpose.

Three Cautionary Reasons

Three cautionary reasons for not following your passions as a means of discovering your vocational purpose:

Passion Following Is Not Universal Privilege

Our Lord Jesus says, “We can live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This “we can live by every word” is universally true for everyone and in every place. It is true for those who live in America, for those who live in Africa, for those who live in the city or a secluded jungle.
However, to follow your passions is not universally true for everyone. It presumes equal opportunity and access to the people and the means to follow and ultimately fulfill one’s passions. To follow one’s passions is a privilege. Some are afforded this privilege to satiate their passions. Others are not. For example, someone who is socioeconomically disadvantaged may take “follow your passions” or “just work hard and you can achieve your dreams” as cruel jokes because they don’t share the same equitable access to the people and means as another. Think of the person in a survival low-wage job, or the recent widower with kids to raise, clothe, and feed. Instead of following his passions, the recent widower will likely have to pivot and urgently seek employment for the necessities of life.

To follow one’s passions is a privilege. Some are afforded this privilege to satiate their passions. Others are not.

Passion Following Can Be Self-Centered

“Follow your passions” can be deeply self-centered. Following your passions satisfies one person: yourself. Pursuing your passion is devoid of “we.” In the hilariously funny film, Bruce Almighty, Bruce (played by Jim Carrey), is endowed with God’s powers while God takes a vacation from his divine vocation. Bruce uses this privilege and power for self-serving purposes to fulfill his selfish passions. Consequently, his selfishness runs a person, the love of his life Grace (played by Jennifer Aniston), away to reside with her sister. Selfishness makes little to no room for others. Of course, Bruce’s self-centeredness is extreme; yet the moral lesson is clear: pursuing one’s passions comes with the probable risk of harming people we love along the way.

This is not to say that following one’s passion is always self-centered. One check and balance I recommend is to have accountable partners for this life journey. These partners will serve as voices of reason or friends of virtue so that we do not fall victim to this risk.

Passions Change Over Time

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fifth edition) offers several definitions for the word “passion.” It can mean a “strong or powerful emotion.” Or it can be defined as “the object of such enthusiasm.” Our emotions and enthusiasms ebb and flow. In other words, our passions change over time; they are not permanent.

Social science backs up the claim that our passions change over time (see Missy Wallace’s fine article, What If My Work Isn’t My Passion?). Our own experiences back this up too. When I was in high school, I had a passion for being a star NFL football player. After getting hit a few times on the football field, I quickly jettisoned this passion. Instead, I channeled my passion and enthusiasm into hitting the books. As a recent 22-year-old college graduate in the marketplace, I told myself I would never drink coffee. Now, as a 60-plus-something, I have a passion for dark roasted coffee (hold the cream). And, incidentally, while I have a passion for dark-roasted coffee, this does not mean I should open a coffee shop. In other words, sometimes our God-given skills do not align with our passions.

Personal experience and research agree that the likelihood of converting one’s passion into a job or career will inevitably diminish, and perhaps, compromise or exhaust all the passion for said passion. Changing passions often gives rise to restlessness and emotionally prompted job hopping. There are good reasons to leave a job, but changing jobs based on our vacillating feelings is not a good reason. It is unwise to make important decisions, like where to contribute as a worker, based on our ever-changing emotions.

God’s Heart Passions

So, if following your passions isn’t a sure-fire way to discover your vocational purpose, what should one do? I highly recommend that we be preoccupied with discerning (and doing) God’s passions. What are some of the passions of God’s heart?

I highly recommend that we be preoccupied with discerning (and doing) God’s passions.

The God be the Sole Object of Our Desire

God has a passionate desire that we thirst, pant, burn, and hunger for God alone (Psalm 42). God has a passionate desire that God, the Caller, becomes the sole object of our passionate desire or unfailing love. God jealously wants to be our first and last love. In the classic hymn, Be Thou My Vision, the first line in this beautiful song says, “Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.” God’s passion for us? That he is Lord of our hearts.

That We Live Rightly

God has a passionate desire that we live righteously. Why? When will live according to what is right and true, we and others flourish. Consider two Scriptures: “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices” (Proverbs 11:10). We can also say that when the righteous prosper, our company employees rejoice; when the righteous prosper, our neighborhoods rejoice; when the righteous prosper, our families rejoice. The weeping prophet Jeremiah likely had Proverbs 11:10 in mind when he wrote to God’s people who were residing in exile in the pagan city of Babylon, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). As we live rightly, and sacrificially, for the sake of others, we will contribute to the flourishing of all‚ including ours.

That We Work to God’s Glory

God has a passionate desire that we do our present work faithfully, ethically, and honorably—and perhaps you might discern your vocation along the way.

God has a passionate desire that we do our present work faithfully, ethically, and honorably—and perhaps you might discern your vocation along the way.

This is my story. I graduated with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kansas. I worked as an engineer in Corporate America for 15 years, and as I progressed (and digressed) in doing my work faithfully, ethically, and honorably, I discovered that I loved educating others. I worked as a systems engineer, so I raised my hand to teach “Laser Systems 101” to my work peers during a “lunch and learn.” I taught a Sunday School class for high school students and later a class for young adults. On one occasion, I was honored to tutor a young lady in college math. Others noticed that I loved educating others, too. A sister in Christ told me, “You should be teaching.” So, as I raised my hand to more teaching opportunities inside and outside the workplace, I discovered my vocational purpose as an educator. So, if Billie Eilish were to ask me, “Luke, what were you made for?” Or “Luke, what is your vocational purpose?” My answer: I was made to be an educator.

Conclusion

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21, my emphasis). Following your passions, or pursuing this treasure, may give birth to idolatry, because idolatry is misplaced loyalty. So instead of unwavering loyalty to God, following your passions may transfer that loyalty to someone or something else. Following your passions can habituate aimless wandering and personal discontent in an economy that capitalizes on our aimless wandering and discontent to sell us things or services we do not need. Because our passions change over time, they act as a poor road map for determining our vocational purpose.

However, this is not a call to avoid following your passions as an iron clad edict; otherwise, we would be bereft of beautiful works from the likes of Francis Schaeffer or Sebastian Bach—both of who refused to listen only to the pragmatist’s voice, “Get a real job!” So, seek to be discerning about your passions and ask wise people along your journey for godly counsel. Pursue making God the Lord of your heart and pursue the immutable passions of God’s heart. In so doing, you may discover, providentially and surprisingly, that God has modified your original passions and has redirected you on the path of discovering your vocational purpose. Or you may discover your vocational purpose like I did. Nonetheless, enjoy the thrilling vocational journey with God, your faithful travel companion.