Being zealous for your faith is often portrayed as a negative. But what does the Bible have to say about zeal?
One of the most clear and instructive passages is from Paul in his letter to the Galatians. Note that he says that being zealous is fine, but the purpose must be good and we should be consistently zealous, and not just for show.
Galatians 4:17-18 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.
Jesus was zealous (this was quoted in John 2:17 when Jesus cleared the temple).
Psalm 69:9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
We are supposed to be zealous.
Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Proverbs 23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
Zeal must be based on knowledge.
Romans 10:2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Proverbs 19:2 It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Other thoughts on zeal:
2 Corinthians 8:22 In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you.
Isaiah 37:32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Note what Elijah said to God. Interestingly, this was repeated word for word in verse 19:14.
1 Kings 19:10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
Have a zealous day for the Lord!
Filed under: Christian - misc.
Being zealous for the Lord is something that is sorely lacking in many churches today. And I’m not talking about the emotional experience of a worship service. I’m speaking of a zeal for the Lord that leads you to go out and witness to others about Him, to live as an example to the lost world, to hunger for His Word, and to long for time alone in prayer with Him.
Thanks for reminding me of my need to constantly be zealous for my God.
ZEAL , I am captivated by this word! We should be zealous for God, but what does that mean. I mean really! I have been studying this word for a couple of weeks now and one thing I know for certain is that I don’t fully understand it. Does it mean passion? Or is it much more than that. I believe that I am passionate for God, but I am surely not zealous like Jesus. In John 2, He seemed to have a sort of unbridled passion. So much so that the money changers left, I mean they didn’t even try to fight Him. Maybe, it was because they thought he had lost his marbles or maybe they just respected Him that much. I believe it is more of the first and that is what I want in my life. I mean if we lived zealously like Christ, everyone would think that we had lost our marbles. Now add in the knowledge of His Word and God can use us tremendously! May God use us all this way!
Hi Jeff – I was just thinking about this post today. A preacher (James MacDonald) mentioned that he sometimes gets criticized for being loud about his passions. He said something like, “I don’t know how to be quiet about the things I’m passionate about, and I’m not trying to learn how.”
[...] People often think that zeal is a bad thing, as in, “He’s so zealous!” But done in the right way zeal is good. We must be zealous with knowledge. That is a good lesson for new Christians especially. Also consider Galatians 4:18, where Paul says, “It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.” I wrote more on zeal here. [...]