Renewing Christian Zeal
Have you noticed it? Christian zeal is missing! I laid out in our last post that I believe Christian zeal has been on the decline in our lifetime. Today, we are going to define Christian Zeal. Then discuss how we can place ourselves on a path to renew the zeal in our Christian walk.
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Let’s get our zealous on!
Our World Amid Declining Christian Zeal
An anonymous author once said,
A little girl saw a sign in a church meeting hall and was crying. It read, “The zeal of Thy house hath consumed me.” An elder asked why she was crying. “I’m afraid of the zeal.” He answered, “Don’t worry little girl; there’s no zeal in this place.”1
Perhaps, we are afraid of Christian zeal like the little girl in this short quip. But we shouldn’t fear it, we should pray for more of it. The renowned Anglican Lord Bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle, wrote the following words in 1878 and they still ring true today.
Zeal is a subject, like many others in religion, most sadly misunderstood. Many would be ashamed to be thought “zealous” Christians….But zeal is a subject which no reader of the Bible has any right to pass over. If we make the Bible our rule of faith and practice, we cannot turn away from it. We must look it in the face.2
Rather than fearing zeal, we should seek to understand it. In understanding zeal, we would do well to love it enough to prayerfully ask God to grant it to us. Our world needs a vibrant, zealous witness for Christ. If it ever has, now is certainly that time!
In our day, we are witnessing an unprecedented amount change and discovery. Technology has changed the way we view and interact with our world. In addition to that, our society is increasingly embracing a moral progressivism that attempts to make us a little less moral each day. Over the last few years, lockdowns, pandemics, political confusion, riots, and wars have ruled the day.
History is in danger of being discarded and erased. Revisionist historians are telling us that things haven’t happened as we’ve been taught. There are new versions of historical thought infiltrating every sector of our lives. It is even infiltrating the Church. Some are asking, “Is our world beginning to look like Orwell’s novel, 1984.”
Authors Beeke & La Belle have summarized the situation well in their book, “Living Zealously.” They wrote,
I have little doubt that we are living at a time in which the condition of today’s church mirrors that of the Church of Laodicea. We need to hear Jesus’ words to the Church of Laodicea anew!
We live in a day when the visible church is sick with spiritual lethargy, dullness, and presumption; a day when few understand or display Christian zeal; a day when many are ablaze with blind and false zeal; and a day when what passes for Christian fruitfulness is really little more than foliage.3
Continue Reading
- Word of the Week | James 1:1 | Part One - June 21, 2023
- Exploring the Profound Nature of Pastoral Ministry - June 16, 2023
- Lessons on Zealous Living Learned in the Garden! Part Four - May 20, 2023
