It should be obvious shouldn’t it? The things that God is passionate about.

Injustice, inequality, idolatry. And many other things that don’t begin with ‘i’!

The bible is clear. As followers of Jesus we should be known for how we treat the poor, stand up for justice and worship Him above all else.

“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” - Matthew 25:42-43

It’s told in a parable by Jesus Himself. Bookended with consequences, if you don’t do this then…

Nothing to fear

And it struck me. How often does my day involve clothing naked people or visiting people in prison? Not very often I can tell you!

I suspect the same is true for you. That is unless you work in a food bank or your profession is in healthcare.

Instead of feeling inadequate or judging myself harshly I tuned into a beautiful message God wanted to share.

And it involved birds!

Say what?

Yep, that’s right those feathered creatures that for many years I have been indifferent to. Sometimes borderline impatient with, or perhaps even worse, dismissed and ignored them completely.

But the thing is; my husband loves birds - yep still talking about the feathered ones ;-)

He has been a (not so) secret ornithologist his whole life. He will happily carry a huge pair of binoculars on a country walk, or even a short stroll around our local park. He has a book. He keeps a log of what he sees when. He is fascinated by them and also dedicated to them. Shown by his commitment to keeping the bird feeders in the garden topped up regularly.

What’s this all got to do with God? I hear you ask.

Well, here’s the thing. Recently I’ve been so much more aware of birds. I regularly spot them whilst I’m out walking or running. And by spot I don’t mean just see them, or acknowledge them. The other day, I literally stopped in my tracks to marvel at a beautiful pair of jays - that’s right I even know their names now! If you don’t know a jay, look them up, they're beautiful! - playing in the frosty branches. And then further along the stream were two little egrets minding their own business foraging for food.

After a while I began chuckling to myself.

Who even am I? I’m basically bird watching.

Instead of feeling inadequate about this or judging myself harshly I tuned into a beautiful message from God.

Something I’d never been interested in. Something I used to tease my husband for being geeky about was bringing me joy. Catching my eye and captivating my heart.

You see, the more time I’ve spent with my husband over the years, the more his own passions and interests have rubbed off on me.

And God spoke so clearly to me. “It works the same with me”

Time well spent

To be excited by the same things as God is, I need to spend time with Him. To understand what moves His heart I need to invest in quality time seeking his heart.

So whilst I may never be called to go and visit prisoners or make clothes for the naked, what I can do is invest time in recognising the things that move God’s heart.

Of course, the outworking of His heart will look different us all. You’re an individual with a unique calling on your life. But fundamentally it’s clear:

“To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8

But how?

If you don’t know how, then spend some more time with Him. It’ll come. Maybe not straight away, but in time.

Never in a million years did I think I could get excited about birds, but over the years of sharing his passion my husband has managed to make a fledgling twitcher of me.

One final thing

So get yourself some regular time with God. He’ll be so excited to pass on the passions of heart to you.

We know that discipline can feel like a dirty word. And we definitely not into religious rituals. But we recognise the importance of regular time with God. And we also know that it’s so much easy when we do it with friends. So get yourself plugged into our online community!