ZEAL IN THE MIDSTS

The dreams of faith lurk on the back roads of thought’s landscape when each day has no luster. Slowly the fire of inspiration can cool and we become a spiritual zombie just going through the motions.

So out of habit we look for rescue in fellowship. Our first natural choice is a worship service or other form of activity where we are in the company of other souls.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that perhaps our minds turn towards God. That is if we can keep them off of thinking about whatever feelings we have about the other people around us. In the end perhaps we have a momentary flash of emotional high and recharge enough to survive till the next spiritual venue occurs.

Still, missing in all of this may be the element of true inner passion for one’s lord. Oh we might come close, but we still find it missing in some inexplicable way.

When that emptiness consumes there is only one form of actual rescue. It only comes through fellowship with the lord. Only the power of his holy spirit can restore such zeal.

The difficulty is appreciating that we are not a reservoir for such zeal. We are more like a faucet. And a great many things in life can influence when the handle gets turned.

Which is why there is nothing wrong with those times when we honestly feeling cooling of our passions. Those are the quiet moments when we should appreciate how they are hints of our need to find the zeal in the midst of life, not only in the midst of some worship service.

God can speak to us in many places. We have to be wiling to listen and see through the eyes of faith and find the face of Christ watching us in all the habitats of our minds not just the ones where we expect to find him.

Lost is not just a condition of the unredeemed. Even sheep being watched over by a shepherd can get lost. We mustn’t forget that it is so easy for our eyes to get blurring in the doing and daily activity.

Hopefully we can listen and wait upon God for those most special moments when the zeal does come. To remember they truly are in life intended to be special moments instead of a constant wind.

Some race for the mirage of enduring passion as if an emotional mountaintop has no end. Such a quest never ends without sooner or later the person falls from the ridge. And when they do it often ends in leaving them so crippled they may never be able to walk again.

Seek as only God can guide. He will in his mercy grant each of us the passion as is best for our soul. It will come in the midst if we allow it to. And even if we are the only ones feeling like shouting.