ZEAL FOR GOD'S HOUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 285, 1 December 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

ZEAL FOR GOD'S HOUSE.

CONSISTENCY OF CHARACTER

(By S.)

There is a word we repeatedly come upon in the Bible that is not much used in these days when so many people look upon hard work as a sin. One rarely hears it spoken, and as rarely finds it in print. It is the word zeal. It is of Greek origin, and comes from a verb meaning to boil, and is employed to signify intense ardour or enthusiasm for a person or cause. The classical example of zeal is, of course, our Lord. Zeal for God and God's house and the mission that had brought Him to the world was one of His outstanding characteristics. It made such an impression on His disciples that, after the (fsrperience they underwent at Pentecost, zeal in the service of God became an outstanding characteristic of them too. Indeed, the phrase in which they are sometimes described, "filled with the Holy Ghost," partly means that they were just enthusiastic Christian men. St. Paul tells us that it is a good thing to be always zealously affected, as he puts it, in a good cause. It is undoubtedly a good tiling—a good thing for the cause, and a good thing for oneself. No cause- can succeed without enthusiasm, and no man or woman can succeed without enthusiasm. It is not a good thing, however, to be overzealous in a good cause. It not only tends to zeal without knowledge, but to fanaticism and bigotry. Nor is it a good thing to be zealously affected regarding too many causes. There is such a thing as spreading one's interests too much, as having too many irons in the fire. And there is no surer way of dissipating our energies and lessening our usefulness. It is wise to concentrate our energies. We cannot be "interested" in too many good causes, but, if we are wise, we will not be "zealously affected" in more than one or two of them. It is concentration that tells. Here are three things that are worth keeping in mind in connection with zeal. We should be on our guard against the temptation to be zealous just as long as we get our own way, just as long as we are at the head of things, just as long as we are in receipt of honour and credit—and no longer. The zeal that is born of vanity and love of power, and disappears when it does not get its own way is only a very ordinary vulgar passion. Then we should guard against the temptation to omit cultivating and fostering in our hearts a charity towards others that will show itself in patience and meekness and courtesy. And we should be careful that our zeal, especially if it is in connection with religion, should not be marred by inconsistency of life and character. It was of a man who said to others, "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord" that it is written that he "took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord with all his heart."