Stay Boiling

Zeal isn’t reserved for frontline Christians.

It’s the mark of the whole army.

Jesus’ followers are not separated between radical and regular, devoted and casual, white-hot and cool. When Jesus called his disciples, he did not give them the option between carrying a cross or sitting on a couch. He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). 

When Paul says, “Do not be slothful in zeal,” he’s not writing a side note to the religious leaders. 

He’s issuing a call to every believer: Don’t be lazy and let your zeal turn lukewarm. Stay boiling. Serve the Lord. 

Those who are “slothful in zeal” sit on their hands and wait for a moment of inspiration to take action. They think back on the glory days—back when they walked with Jesus and talked about Jesus and did much for Jesus. But that was then. Now they’ve settled down. If God wants to stir up their passion again, they’re OK with that. Until then, they’re OK with cooling down to the surrounding air.

Those who are “fervent in spirit” move by faith into obedience, even when they don’t feel like it. They believe that God is a consuming flame. If only they can get near his burning glory, they will catch fire. They are always “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13). They are not satisfied with what they attained in the glory days. They believe there is more to know of Jesus and more to do with him.

Are you slothful in zeal or fervent in spirit? 

If you have been slothful, heed the word of Christ to the lukewarm Laodiceans: 

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:18). 

Repent of going dim. Be zealous. By the power of the Spirit, move your faith out into the open. Let the oxygen of open obedience breathe life into your soul again.

Paul’s and Jesus’ command to “be zealous” implies that zeal is something that, by the Spirit, you can fan into flame.

Like boiling water, you will not naturally remain on fire for Jesus. By default, you will acclimate to room-temperature complacency, one degree at a time, until you are lukewarm. 

If you want to stay boiling for Jesus, you must always keep yourself above the heat source of the Spirit of God.