We often feel embarrassed or even afraid of zeal and passion, recognising them as the impetus behind action and feeling wary about the combination of emotion and action. It’s not considered British to be passionate! Zeal may make us feel uncomfortable (think about Phinehas whose zeal for God led him to kill the Israelite and the Midianite woman (Num 25:10-13) or even Jesus as He overturned the tables in the temple (John 2:14-17)). We are more comfortable with the wishy-washy, but God abhors the lukewarm attitudes so many of us bring to Him (Rev 3:15-16) and longs for us to be devoted to Him whole-heartedly (see Col 3:17).
Zeal marries patience to passion, truth to trust, fervour to faithfulness. Think of Baruch who ‘zealously repaired another section [of the wall], from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.’ (Neh 3:20) The work of repairing the ruined walls of Jerusalem may not have seemed very glamorous or spiritual, but Baruch worked steadily away with zeal. We need to understand that zeal keeps us going, even in the mundane and the boring.
Developing zeal will only happen if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, for He provides all the spiritual fuel we need to live for God. We are leaky vessels; passion and zeal may once have been ours, but it’s easy to let these things slip with time. The way to keep our spiritual fervour is to keep on being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18); this is necessary for we are all called to serve the Lord. God calls each one of us to is a life of service (which will look very different for there are all kinds of ways of serving Him!), and that life can only be successful if fuelled by Him. Only as God’s zeal fills us will we have the perseverance and passion to serve Him with love, gratitude and humility. He wants us to be never lacking in zeal. Do we?