Tag Archives: zeal

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Tempering Zeal with Sensitivity (James, Son of Zebedee)

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The twelve apostles included “James the son of Zebedee” (Matt. 10:2).

Zeal without sensitivity can destroy your life and ministry.

There’s the story of a Norwegian pastor whose motto was “All or nothing!” His life and preaching were stern, strong, powerful, uncompromising, and utterly insensitive. Reportedly the people in his church didn’t care much for him because he didn’t care much for them. In his zeal and ambition to advance the kingdom and uphold God’s standard, he neglected everything else—including his own family.

One day his little daughter became so ill the doctor warned him that if he didn’t move her out of the cold Norwegian air to a warmer climate, she would die. He refused, telling the doctor, “All or nothing!” Soon his little girl died. His wife was so grief-stricken she would sit for hours holding her daughter’s garments close to her heart, trying somehow to ease her pain.

When the pastor saw what his wife was doing, he gave away the clothes to a poor woman in the street. All that remained was a little bonnet, which his wife had hidden so she would have some reminder of her precious daughter. When the pastor found it, he gave that away too, lecturing his wife on giving “all or nothing.” Within a few months, she too died—of grief.

Now that’s an extreme example of insensitive zeal, yet there are many pastors, evangelists, and other Christian workers who are so zealous for the Lord and so task- oriented, they don’t see the pain their own families and congregations are suffering.

James could have been like that if he hadn’t yielded his life to Christ. He began as a zealous and insensitive disciple but God refined his character and used him in a marvelous way.

Examine your own ministries and motives. Are you sensitive to your family and the people you serve with? Zeal can be a wonderful quality but it must be tempered with love and sensitivity.

Suggestions for Prayer

If you have been insensitive to those around you, confess that to them and ask the Lord to give you a greater sensitivity from now on.

For Further Study

Eli the priest was negligent and insensitive to his family. Read 1 Samuel 3:1—4:18.

  • What did the Lord tell Samuel concerning Eli?
  • What was the outcome of Israel’s battles with the Philistines?
  • How did Eli and his sons die?
Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Be Filled with Zeal

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Alistair Begg

Be zealous. Revelation 3:19

If you want to see souls converted, if you want to hear the cry that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord,”1 if you want to place crowns upon the head of the Savior and see His throne lifted high, then be filled with zeal. For under God, the way the world will be converted is by the zeal of the church. Every element of grace will do its work, but zeal will be first; prudence, knowledge, patience, and courage will follow in their places, but zeal must lead the charge. It is not the extent of your knowledge, though that is useful, it is not the extent of your talent, though that is not to be despised, it is your zeal that will do great exploits.

This zeal is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: It draws its vital force from the continued operations of the Holy Spirit in the soul. If our inner life dwindles, if our heart beats slowly before God, we will not know zeal; but if everything inside is strong and vigorous, then we cannot but feel a loving urgency to see Christ’s kingdom come, and His will done on earth, even as it is in heaven.

A deep sense of gratitude will nourish Christian zeal. When we reflect on the miry pit from which we were lifted, we find plenty of reason for spending ourselves for God. And zeal is also stimulated by the thought of the eternal future. It looks with tearful eyes down to the flames of hell, and it cannot sleep: It looks up with anxious gaze to the glories of heaven, and it cannot stay still. It feels that time is short compared with the work to be done, and therefore it devotes all that it has to the cause of its Lord. And it is continually strengthened by remembering Christ’s example. He was clothed with zeal as with a cloak. How swift the chariot-wheels of duty went with Him! He never loitered on the way. Let us prove that we are His disciples by displaying the same spirit of zeal.

1Revelation 11:15

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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The family reading plan for June 7, 2014 * Isaiah 39 * Revelation 9

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