Romans 12: Part 10
After Paul instructed us to honor one another above ourselves, he goes on to give a command in three parts in verse 11: A) Never be lacking in zeal, (but) B) Keep your spiritual fervor, C) serving the Lord.
Don't Lack Zeal
We are commanded to never be lacking in zeal. Dictionary.com defines zeal as "fervor for a person, cause, or object". It is an "eager desire", "enthusiastic diligence", and "ardor". Paul doesn't want us to be lukewarm believers just going through the motions. He wants us to have zeal in our lives. But this begs the question: What should we be zealous of? The next section gives us some guidance as to what we should be zealous of.
Maintain Spiritual Fervor
This command is contrasted with the previous command. Don't do that, BUT do this. Don't lack zeal, BUT have spiritual fervor. Dictionary.com defines fervor as "a great warmth and earnestness of feeling". Paul didn't just say keep your fervor or have fervor about your passions in life, but he added the adjective spiritual. He wants us to have fervor about spiritual things. In life, people tend to show what they are zealous about by how they spend their money, how they spend their time, and what they talk about. Many people in the US have been keeping their political fervor more than their spiritual fervor. We spend more time arguing for our rights or complaining about our political opponents instead of serving God and those around us.
Serve the Lord
This verse concludes with instructions to serve the Lord. We are not to primarily be serving one nation, one political party, or one organization. We serve God first and foremost. How do we serve God? By doing what He commands. This includes avoiding the bad things (such as idolatry), as well as doing the good things (such as loving God and loving people). We serve God by spending time with Him and in His Word, as we worship and praise Him.
Conclusion
Sometimes our temptation in our Christian walk is to want something big, exciting, or spectacular. We want to do something big and showy to prove our devotion to God, but many times, God wants our simple obedience to Him in our daily lives. Going on a mission trip to serve people and proclaim the Good News is a good activity, but more important than that one week of our lives is how we live each day in faithful obedience to God. It may not seem as impressive to us and might even seem a bit mundane and boring, but this is part of the Christian walk. Will we be faithful in the small things? In the mundane things? In the things that don't attract notice or human praise? Instead of rushing onto the next thing on our schedules today, I recommend that we take some time to sit with these 3 ordinary commands and ponder how we can follow them in the coming weeks.
Questions to Wrestle With
Take time this week to consider:
When have you been lacking in zeal?
What have you been keeping your fervor in?
How have you served the Lord recently?
Do you gravitate towards grand gestures to God or the small, faithful acts?
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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