New Reminders: Zealousness

Zealousness is characterized by being filled with or showing zeal: marked by passionate support for a person, cause, or ideal.  Someone who is zealous spends a lot of time and energy supporting something they very strongly believe in, especially a political or religious ideal.  They are usually enthusiastic, passionate, earnest, and burning with desire to move their beliefs forward.  While this seems like a worthy effort, we do have to be cautious not to overdo and defeat our own purpose.

I remember a particularly enthusiastic visitation committee from a local church who came to my house shortly after I had moved into a new neighborhood.  The person leading that group explained that they had a new recruit to the group who was eager to speak with me.  He launched into an aggressive, accusing tone, making assumptions about me.  He made it clear that he was there to turn me away from my sinful ways and single handedly save my soul from eternal damnation.  It was obvious that he was a particularly zealous, recent convert to the saving grace of God.  I let him talk until I saw an opening and then turned the tables on him and asked him some questions he was not prepared to answer.  I was gentle, but I let him know that he needed to temper his approach a little and not be quick to make assumptions.  I counseled him to take a more matured approach or risk alienating the very people he wished to convince.  On the way out the door, the original speaker for the group shook my hand and winked at me as if to let me know I had handled the situation just as she had hoped someone would.

On the one hand, we don’t want to squelch someone’s enthusiasm for the Gospel, we do however, want to do our due diligence and take a humble approach to helping others find our message not only believable but advantageous for them.  Hitting someone over the head with our beliefs, is not going to make them more open to our message.  We must take our clues from Jesus and follow His gentle approach to leading others to accept His saving grace.

Jesus taught His disciples that servant leadership is the prescribed form of leadership for the Kingdom of God.  Then he modeled it!  He modeled it by loving them.  He modeled it by teaching them by being patient with them, by washing their feet, and ultimately by going to the cross for them and for us. 

“For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:08