Where have all the Cowboys Gone? Part 2

Welcome back to the second part of our two part discussion about the loss of zeal in modern man. If you haven’t read part one it’s highly recommended. Anyways, let jump back in!

I’m Mad as Hell and I Can’t Take it Anymore!
Zeal is a powerful tool that God has given to humanity. It drives us to action so that we can do and say great things for God. However, we must make sure that our zeal isn’t misguided. Misguided zeal helped bring on the Holocaust. Mistaken zeal for God has led to the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.

We must make sure that our zeal is to do the things God directs us to in the bible. Justice, helping the weak, proper honoring of God, defending the faith, etc. are all reasons to arouse you zeal. Want the cure to misguided zeal? It’s simple, read your Bible regularly and carefully (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This is the best way to make sure that we are zealous for the things God is zealous about and not simply venting our anger in ignorance.

Why Can’t We Feel the Zeal Anymore?
My evidence is going to be anecdotally but it seems to me that Christian men just get less “fired up” than they used to. Now, before you write me off as some old codger who thinks things were “better back when” let me give you a few arguments.

In the 19th and early 20th century men’s desire to serve God was so great that they whet bravely into remote parts of the world unsupported. Men like Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and Jim Elliot were not only missionaries but they were going to places where no white man had ever been. They couldn’t stand the idea that there were people in the world unreached by God’s word. Is dying for your cause the great honor it used to be? I would say not.

We live in a very cynical age. Patriotism, adherence to a moral code, and Christianity are old concepts never to be trusted completely and anyone who does is not to be trusted either. Don’t believe me? Look at the success of the Onion and the Daily Show. These are two “news” sources that encourage us to be suspicious of and lampoon authority. This type of environment does not encourage zeal. It encourages us to be skeptical and laugh at anyone who is zealous about anything.

Another factor that has led to a loss of zeal is that in 21st century America is that we have lot of ways to keep busy. As such it is easy to get involved with our jobs, our twitter accounts, iPads, iPhones, and staying up to date on our favorite TV shows and websites. When I have tried to put together groups of men to help someone or study the bible the retort is usually “I’m just too busy” yet somehow those same men (myself included) find the time to do all the fun they want to do. I say they are doing it at the expense of serving God. Or, in other words, their zeal isn’t for God.

Not that we’ve discussed some of the things that inhibit zealousness how do we get it back?

Bring Back The Zeal

Remember how we defined zeal? In case you forgot here it is again. Zeal is the urge we get that makes us want to take action when we see things that are out of line with God’s created order. Therefore, we must get our emotions, thoughts, and actions aligned with those of God. How do we do that? There are two ways, prayer and studying the bible. We must study our bible regularly to discern what God would have us be zealous about. Also, we must pray that God would give us wisdom in how to act on our zeal.

How is this important to men? Traditionally God has called on men to lead his people. As men we must work to cultivate zeal if we want to do great things for God. Men of God lead others to greatness by being zealous for God. It’s how God created us!! (Maybe to good topic for a later post . . .)

The solution definitely falls into the “easier said than done” category. Here it is, make sure your thoughts are right, go out, and try to do great things for God (1 Kings 2:2-3). Afterwards, don’t be upset when you fail because God is great and so is his Savior. (Romans 8: 31-39)

Alright men, we now know what zeal is a how to get it. Let get out there and change the world!

Did you like this article? Is there something I missed? Do you have opinions? I would love to hear them? So, put them in the comments section.

Where have all the Cowboys Gone? Part 1

I hope that you’ll forgive me the Paula Cole reference but I thought it was appropriate given that we’re going to start our two part series about zeal and lack thereof among today’s Christian men.

What is Zeal?
The English word zeal comes from the Greek word “zelos” and means fervor for a person, cause, or object. This is a fine definition to get us started. But the question that must interest us is what is zeal in the Bible? I would argue that Zeal is the urge we get that makes us want to take action when we see things that are out of line with God’s created order. That urge can compel us to do great things for God. Zeal can manifest itself in several ways. Maybe you want to start a bible study, help the homeless, or speak out against oppression. When the desire to serve God wells up inside of you, becomes too great to ignore, and compels you to action that is zeal.

Examples of Zeal
The Old Testament is filled with lots of examples of men and women zealous to serve God. However, to my mind, Nehemiah is the one that stands out most. Nehemiah was a displaced Jew serving the king of Persia as a cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11). However, once he heard that the city of Jerusalem, God’s holy city, was in disrepair he couldn’t abide sitting idly by and doing nothing (Neh 2:3-6). Eventually, Nehemiah completed his task of repairing Jerusalem and left the care of Jerusalem to others. However, when he came back to see that the caretakers were not properly worshiping God he was not afraid to bust up some furniture to get his point across (Neh 13:6-10)!

Of course, the most famous example of zeal comes from the book of John. Jesus, approaching the temple in Jerusalem, saw that God’s holy place had been turned into a market house. The temple had become a place where greed and goods were worshiped more readily than God. Jesus, being filled with zeal and righteous (i.e. appropriate) anger, began to overturn tables and dump money changers coins on the floor (John 2:13-17). Jesus’ zeal for God made such an impact on John that he even mentions it reminded him of Psalms 69:9.

Here is a pretty good reenactment of what it might have looked like

Nehemiah and Jesus had this in common when acting on their zeal. Neither could stand the idea of a world where God was not being glorified in the way that he ought. So great was their love for God that the idea of not doing something was to unbearable. Nehemiah risked punishment from his king and Jesus risked punishment from authorities both civil and religious. But they didn’t care. Sin had distorted the goodness of God’s creation and they did something about it.

Now that we know what zeal is and we’ve seen some examples of it. Come back next week when we discuss misguided zeal, lack of zeal, and how to get our zeal back.

Did you like this article? Is there something I missed? Do you have opinions? I would love to hear them? So, put them in the comments section.