Speaking in several passages of the Bible, the Holy Spirit makes it clear that anyone who will follow Jesus must possess a single-minded desire, characterized by faith, loyalty, enthusiasm and devotion to God (Luke 9:62, Acts 14:22, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 6:12). In other words, as true disciples of Jesus, we are to be filled with unrestricted and single-minded zeal for God and live our lives completely sold-out to Him. Indeed, God expects us to love Him above everything else in this world (Deuteronomy 6:5). Our Lord says in Mark 8:34b-35:
“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”
This simply means that anyone who will follow Jesus Christ must deny self by refusing to satisfy personal interests or desires. As a child of God, you are expected to deny yourself of personal interests and desires that are in conflict with God’s commandments or ways of His kingdom. God’s will must have priority above all other interests in your life, and His laws should be your yardstick for measuring what is right or wrong. Jesus further warned His followers against working to gain people’s approval, promising that those who run the risk of displeasing men for His sake will end up gaining everything.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38
When we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, we naturally develop great passion and zeal for anything that concerns Him. This kind of zeal propelled the heroes of faith in the Bible to accomplish great things we read about today. Being totally sold out to God, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son, David confronted a lion, a bear and Goliath, the three Hebrew boys defied the fiery furnace, and Daniel boldly went into the lion’s den. Driven by pure zeal for God, Stephen faced death with unwavering boldness, and the apostles did great exploits for Him. By the grace of God, Christians are still doing great things for God today, especially in the least expected places. Notwithstanding this, the Bible warns against zeal without knowledge, which breeds religious fanaticism and bigotry. From today onward, be zealous for God, and you will see Him move heaven and earth just for you.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.