Zeal's Burning Desire

11/17/2002

A challenging, but APPEALING definition of ZEAL I read recently: 

“Zeal is a burning desire to please God, to do His Will, and advance His Glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature, which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted… A zealous man is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies…whether he has health or whether he has sickness…whether he is rich or whether he is poor…whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense…whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish…whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise…whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame—for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it—he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he had but done the work for which God appointed him. If he cannot speak with others, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray… If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill (Exodus 17:9-13). If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. That is what I mean when I speak of ‘zeal’.”

—Bryan 11:54 p.m.