Hmmm.... serving can be monotonous I've noticed! While away at a Model UN conference in Brisbane last week, I found myself sitting outside a lifeless concrete building in the cold one night, plugged into their exterior powerpoint and using University of Queensland's wireless internet, dressed in a suit, because I was meant to be at a ball. All this because I'd not been diligent enough with a church flyer I had planned to do earlier in this week, and so I'd left it to the last possible minute. In a stressful and frustrating moment, the flyer got done, and I was finally free to go to my ball, unencumbered from the tedious work I had to do for God.
On reflection, I wondered: surely this isn't the way I am meant to serve? Obediently putting God's works before my own, trusting in him and serving are all things that I've been trying to do more and more, but where was my heart? You've probably guessed by now that I was acting out a sense of obligation, and had forgotten the real reason I was serving God.
Look again at this verse (print it? stick it on your wall?):
romans 12:11I think I need more zeal in my life. Zeal is a word that cops a bit of stigma in critical society, with 'zealot' and 'over-zealous' carrying negative connotations. I don't think a lot of people even know what zeal actually is. One definition I like is this; "enthusiastic, engaged, or ardent devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance." If you ask me, that kind of zeal can be the fine line between a fruitful or a fruitless ministry, a devoted or a fairweather christian, how God's calling us to serve or how we sometimes slip into serving.
"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord".
And he is calling us;
proverbs 13:1It's not enough to just support the cause in theory. God's got a higher standard than that. He wants diligent, enthusiastic, devoted servitude. Be like that, and you'll experience God's favour. Case in point, Elijah;
"The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."
1 kings 19:14Elijah was an incredibly faithful and devoted follower of the Lord, did anything and everything within his power to obey God's will, and saw great fruit come out of everything he did. God saw Elijah's zeal, and protected him. If I only leave you with one point today, I hope it's this. Get zealous for the Lord!
"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"."
love dan.
Ah... the eternal problem of a blogger - does anyone actually read this stuff? :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat work - very good thoughts on serving. Keep it up!
Hey Dan, this is really insightful. I agree it's something we often forget about - like we are told yes it will be hard work, yes you should strive to serve the Kingdom, but really God wants us to have the right heart (perhaps harder than doing the serving in some cases). How do you suggest we get more zeal?
ReplyDeletexxx
Jo
Be zealous in posting more blogs!!
ReplyDeleteI just sent you an email about this but wanted to also publicly confirm that I really enjoyed today's blog. Great stuff.
Also agree with Jo, I want to know how we get more zeal!
yay finally blogger lets me comment(it's been playing up all day...)
ReplyDeleteI would just warn you of falling into kantian philosophy if you're talking about zeal, otherwise good post =)
well, part of it i think is just an attitudinal shift! trying to remember the actual reason why we serve in church, that's it not for ourselves or for our leaders or for our suburb, but for God. remembering that it is because of his love and the overflow of that reciprocated in our own hearts that we serve is a pretty good start.
ReplyDeleteand then don't stop. be diligent. get involved! get busy! get off your couch!
Kantian? How so?
ReplyDeleteseconded.
ReplyDeleteHaha we all want to appear smart and don't want to admit we don't know what someone is talking about!
ReplyDeleteBut Chris: I don't know what you're talking about. Kantian philosophy is not exactly one of my specialist areas. I can tell you a lot about newspapers though!
Kant's ethics are deontological, revolving entirely around duty rather than emotional feelings or end goals. All actions are performed in accordance with some underlying maxim or principle; it is according to this that the moral worth of any action is judged.
ReplyDeleteaka - an action is concidered morally good only if is performed on the basis of an underlying principal, rather than to achieve a seperate outcome or to respond to a feeling... eg, someone is drowning and you rescue them... this is only seen as a morally good act if you rescue them on the principal that all drowning people should be rescued... which is an interested moral question acording to Kant, because if it is a true principal, then it has to be universally true 100% of the time... what if hitler was drowning, or saddam hussain was drowning?
so... falling into a kantian philosophy style of zealous serving God seeks to find a universal truth or pincipal by which to serve God and basing the 'goodness' or 'badness' of that service based on that principal... hence, serving God in a 'good' way becomes a duty to some preidentified principal.
I think that maybe God is a bit more dynamic than that... i think that service to God is duty, love, obligation, joy, response, pleasure, work, sacrificial... all wrapped up in one.
oops.. forgot to reference - too long out of uni for me!
ReplyDeletethe opening paragraph of my comment was taken from: http://www.answers.com/topic/kantianism-1
yay for non plagiarism
haha yeah that's exactly it joelly. God calls us to serve him joyfully, not to do good "solely for the sake of good".
ReplyDeleteI reckon Piper puts it best when he says "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him."
actually having re read your description, not quite... it's more that one should do good solely for the sake of good, and that good which is done with a bi-product (of say joy for instance) is not really actually good at all, as it is a selfish act...
ReplyDeletehmmm. I don't think Dan's post was that related to Kantian philosophy then.
ReplyDeletethat is pretty much correct, in fact the point he's making is in the opposite direction,
ReplyDeletehowever the reason i mentioned it is that his diction reminds me a lot of a lot of the literature i used to read when i was in the kantian camp. (for example a focus on the terms "serving" and "zeal" without giving the reason for serving, or how or why we are supposed to serve/be zealous)
that being said i agree that the post isn't kantian, just that it touches on a subject that kantians go on and on about...
Even tho this is a belated comment Dan, I want you to know I have read and re-read ur blog on Zeal for God and each time am encouraged all over again.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have 3 times as much zeal in my life for God, and am encouraged now to keep praying for this and to get closer to Him.
luv mum xo