In the text (Romans 12:11) we will be considering this Sunday, the Apostle Paul warns us to not be slothful in zeal. Instead, we are encouraged to be fervent in spirit. “Zeal” and “fervent” are perhaps not words we use in our daily discourse. However, we sense the intensity behind them. They are not mild-mannered words. In reflecting on them, it brought to mind the opening paragraph of C.S. Lewis’ wonderful essay, The Weight of Glory.  He writes,

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

These words convict me. I have too often been afraid of zeal and fervency. I don’t want to be thought of as strange or too radical. Or I worry that to give myself wholeheartedly to being a follower of Jesus will carry a cost I won’t want to bear. Give me a little bit of Jesus, the “forgiveness of sin” Jesus, the “eternal life” Jesus. But keep away the “Lord of all” Jesus, the “take up your cross and die” Jesus, the “present yourself as a sacrifice” Jesus.  I’ll take a Jesus inoculation or vaccine which gives me a little bit of Jesus but prevents me from getting all of Him and all that would mean for how I actually live my life.

But, saints, Jesus does not leave us the option of having our relationship with Him be a buffet or cafeteria style situation where we pick and choose what we want put on the plate. We cannot have Him as Savior and not have Him as Lord. And He has told us that part of following Him will be to share in the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10). So, we are called to give all of ourselves to Him with zeal and fervency. That doesn’t mean we will always be full of energy or overflow with optimism and positive feelings. It does mean that, by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit working in us, we will be active in pursuing deeper intimacy with God, greater love for our neighbor, and further holiness of life. Let us not fear the yoke that Jesus requires us to bear but let us receive it with joy knowing that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). In doing so, we will find the true satisfaction that our hearts desire.