• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Jared Dees

Author. Speaker. Teacher.

  • About
    • Now
    • Projects
    • Jared’s Newsletter
    • Contact
  • Books
    • New! Goals to Gold
    • New! The Gospel According to Video Games
    • New! Just Plant Seeds
    • Beatitales
    • Take and Eat
    • Prepare the Way
    • Take Up Your Cross
    • 15-Minute Stations of the Cross for Kids
    • View All Books
  • Events
  • Articles
  • Stories for Kids
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

Redefining the “Passion” in “Follow Your Passion”

By Jared Dees

One of the most popular forms of career advice that this generation has heard is “follow your passion.”

To most people it means doing what you love. It is an invitation to the freedom of work that you enjoy versus the drudgery of meaningless work that is boring and repeated.

The promise of “following your passion” is true happiness and fulfillment in life compared to the long, hard years of manual labor.

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” my grandfather used to say. He was a golf pro and became a rules official in the PGA. He certainly did what he loved and people loved what he did.

“Follow your passion” and “do what you love” can both be great pieces of advice, but with a catch.

Sometimes, in fact often, our passion leads us down the wrong road. Love is misinterpreted as pleasure.

How can you tell?

Sometimes, following our passion can cut us off from others. We sacrifice others for the benefit of our life’s passion.

Family are distanced. Children are neglected. Husbands and wives feel put off and overlooked.

Then comes the resentment. That pursuit of passion, when it isn’t fulfilled, turns us against the here and now. We resent our jobs. We resent our employers and co-workers. We start to get a sense of superiority that is unwarranted and false. We resent the government, the economy, and anything else we can blame for our failures to make “passion” a reality.

Is that doing what we love? Love is always a form of self-giving, never a feeling of self-gratification.

Real Passion

Christians have another use of the word passion. Made popular by Mel Gibson’s movie of the same name, the Passion of Christ is the suffering that Jesus went through on the way to his death on the cross.

Passion, in terms of the Passion of Christ, is self-sacrifice for others. It isn’t fun or enjoyable. It is gut-wrenchingly hard. It’s suffering with a purpose. It’s suffering for others.

Meditating upon the mysteries of Christ’s passion and death give a whole knew perspective to “follow your passion.” If we follow our passion as Christ experienced his passion, our life and work become a form of suffering for others. In this sense there is no self-aggrandized pursuit of a lonely dream. It is a service to others, a form of self-giving

Looking toward the future and analyzing what we might think is our true passion in life, consider this:

Do I feel passionate because I get enjoyment or because I feel a strong desire to help someone in need?

Following your passion must mean sacrificing yourself for the sake of others, not sacrificing others for the sake of your passion.

(Shout out to Cal Newport, Scott Adams, Mike Rowe, Mark Cuban and many others for questioning the “follow your passion” advice.)

February 4, 2014 Filed Under: Meaningful Work, Productivity

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

Previous Post: « Why Not Us? Why Not Me?
Next Post: How to Write a Witness Talk »

Primary Sidebar

Jared Dees

Author, Speaker, Teacher

Join the 10,000+ subscribers to Jared's weekly email newsletter with stories for kids:

Jared’s New & Popular Books

  • 🌳 Beatitales
  • 🍞🍷 Take and Eat
  • 👨‍🏫 Christ in the Classroom
  • 🌱 Just Plant Seeds 
  • 🎮 The Gospel According to Video Games
  • 📚 View All >

Jared’s Popular Website for Religious Educators

Search the Site:

Footer

Connect with Jared Dees

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

Stories for Children

Copyright © 2025 · Jared Dees