Have you ever been Zealous for God?
Have you ever been Zealous for God?
Zealous: filled with or characterized by zeal : marked by fervent partisanship for a person, a cause, or an ideal
Zeal: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something
Have you ever been zealous for The Lord? I mean truly Zealous to the point that even other followers of Christ think you might be a bit crazy? We are told in Prov 23:17 “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;”- Prov 23:17 (NKJV)
But how far are you really willing to go for The Lord? Are you really willing to be the “crazy Christian guy/girl” in the office? Or would you rather be the quite guy in the corner silently praying for things to change but doing nothing about it as so many Christians seem to do today? The bible tells us “18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.” - Gal 4:18 ,and “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” - Revelations 3:19 But how far are we willing to go in our zealous pursuit of God and his will?
Begin zealous for Gods will is never easy. It often takes us from our comfort zone and places us in situation where we often rather not be, surrounded by people who rather not be near us. Paul, Elisha, Elijah, Gideon, and Jonah are prime examples of people who have been zealous for the lord and ripped out of there comfort zone.
Often our first reaction when called to be zealous is to run the other way. And this is not uncommon,Alasdair A.K. White wrote in his 2009 book From Comfort Zone to Performance Management: “The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk” “To step out of the comfort zone raises the anxiety level engendering a stress response, the result of which is an enhanced level of concentration and focus.”
There are even biblical examples of this reaction by Jonah and Gideon:
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord”.-Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV)
“Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" 15 So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."” Judges 6:14-15 (NKJV)
Even Jesus had a few anxiety moments when the moment of his execution was near:
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Mathew 26:39
So if wanting to stay in our comfort zone is natural and the way God made us why then does God constantly call us to go beyond our comfort zone often straight to being zealous for him? Perhaps God wants us to show the same Zeal for him he has show us: “"Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; With great fervor I am zealous for her.' -Zech 8:2.
God even warns us about being just lukewarm for him:
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. -Rev 3:15-16 (NKJV)
So how can I be zealous for the Lord and not come out looking like I am crazy?
Well you can't. If you want to follow God you must be forever marked by fervent partisanship. God does not want mindless automatons, any more then he wants people to proclaim there love and do nothing about it. Think about it, how loved you would feel if your spouse told you they loved you but would not out stretch there hand to pull you up when you where falling off of a cliff? We are told that 21 “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” -1 John 4:21
And how can you love some one if your not willing to go the extra mile to bring them to God?
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments 1 John 5:1-2
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