Wednesday, April 29, 2020

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” –Romans 12:11

If you watch live sports you’ll notice that games seem to begin in the same way. Just prior to the kickoff, tipoff, or first pitch, there’s loud music, maybe a video montage of exciting plays from the history of the team, and some sort of pyrotechnics. This brings up the collective energy in the stadium. You can feel it in the room. But no matter the event, very shortly after the game is underway, the crowd quiets and from then on, there are only periodic bursts of excitement. It’s just not sustainable for the whole game.

The same is true for our faith. There are times where an experience we have will motivate us to serve one another in love, but if we are only relying on our own power and energy, sooner or later, the excitement wanes and our expressions of love become less frequent.

Here the apostle Paul tells us that the key ingredient to maintain our energy and desire, our zeal, in following Jesus is God’s Holy Spirit. The Spirit working in our lives gives us the ability to “keep our spiritual fervor,” literally translated to “bubble up” or “to boil over” with faith. It’s that boiling over that causes us to serve the Lord by showing love to those around us.

So then, what is it that you need to start doing today to turn up the temperature so God’s Spirit can bubble up within your own?