With Zeal

DEVOTION

ROMANS

WITH ZEAL

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

Never is a very strong word. In the Greek it is more of a negative statement as in do not be lacking, or slothful, but instead be fervent in spirit in serving the Lord. One of the examples of living with zeal is how Paul persecuted the church before he met Jesus. Then after he met Jesus he lived with zeal in bringing the good news to as many people as he could. Zeal is also a very strong word denoting fervent behavior. That is not being lazy or slothful in serving our Lord. That would mean we need to keep on keeping on and keeping on speedily. Living the Christian life is not all about us, but all about God. Sometime we get so introspective in our walk, thinking about what we are not supposed to do and what we should be doing in regard to sin. We get back to the list of do’s and don’ts and think as long as the do’s out weight the don’ts, and that we are getting better at being a good Christian we doing alright. After all we go to church every Sunday, we don’t miss unless there are extenuating circumstances. But that is not serving the Lord with zeal, with spiritual fervor. What does spiritual fervor look like? What does serving the Lord look like? Our scholars want to insert business in the mix, which we should not be slothful in business, as the KJV translates this verse using business, but the Greek word simply means with speed, diligent and in the context it is about serving the Lord. We are to have zeal for God, earnestness, diligent in our service to him. But still that does not answer what serving him looks like. Perhaps we could incorporate the business of serving the Lord and then we are not to be slothful in the business of serving the Lord, but serve him with zeal, enthusiasm, with speed. We are to be excited about being a Christian, filled with the joy of the Lord. There are many ways of serving our Lord. We each have been given our individual assignments, so to speak. He has called us to be a part of his kingdom, but not as quests, or visitors, but rather as family, all doing our part for the betterment of the family. How we serve him is up to him, not us. Just as the Father in a family has the ultimate authority in a family deciding who does what. The Father has ultimate authority over us, deciding how we serve him. It is not our choice, but his. When we decide than it is about us, what we want to do in serving him, we are focused on us, the way we want to serve, but God must decide. He calls us to a particular service, whether that is being a big shot or a little shot in the body. It does not even matter how smart we are, or how much wealth we have, it depends on what God has for us to do, how he wants to use us to further his kingdom. Just reading his word and trying to abide by all the rules for living is not serving him with zeal. That is still having self-focus, self-centered rather than God-centered. Serving the Lord with zeal means we get going, doing that which we are called to do, not matter how long it takes, or what it takes. We might have all sorts of training, skills, or education in one area of life and God might just decide to call us to a completely different area of service, so we cannot say it is because of our skills, talents, education, but it is because the Spirit gives us the ability, the gift to do that which God requires  to further his kingdom. Whatever we are to do, we are to do it with all we have, giving it all we are, not half-hearted or try to fit serving him into our own daily schedule. It would seem we should fit our daily schedule around him, and with zeal.