That, I can deal with. But have I ever thought about such behaviours as being zealous for evil?
I do not like to think myself evil of course; I suspect no sane person does. And yet, I have to ask myself: If I am not truly being zealous for good, what am I being zealous for? Surely there is not some kind of mediocre middle ground, a sort of middling thing that neither wins people nor offends them, a banal blandness that does nothing at all.
But that is not what the Bible offers us. We are only, ever on a journey to one of two locations.
Maybe I can argue myself down to being somehow passively good. But that will not fill the bill either: Christ was never passively good, nor were the apostles. They were actively, zealously, good.
If I am not zealous for good, likely I am zealous for something else.
Difficult to follow those words TB, very difficult.
ReplyDeleteIt is Nylon12, it is. I think the thing that strikes me in my own life is that it is not just enough to passively not do good; I should be zealous for good. Too often I am not.
DeleteMy "zealotry" has cooled a bit, for all but the Word. Yet "to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is sin" still applies. Zeal or no, doing what's right and good is still the Way.
ReplyDeleteSTxAR, my fault likes in the fact that I do not actively do good as much as I should.
Delete"We are only, ever on a journey to one of two locations."
ReplyDeleteThis statement will stay with me for a long, long time.
The phrase "passively good" makes you think, doesn't it?
Sandi, I am not particularly comfortable with either statement, but really those are the realities.
DeleteWell said. Sort of the, "not my department" idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks John - And indeed. it should not be "our department".
DeleteIf I think about it, the greatest difficulty may be being zealous for good.
I tend to think in terms of trust and obedience as opposed to good and evil. I think that's because different people define good and bad differently. I'm finite, so there is more that I don't understand than I do. So then I have to ask myself, how do I be zealous to trust? To obey? That will be something to meditate on for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteOh, that is a good way to think about Leigh. And maybe extending it a bit further, how do I become someone who others can trust and give credence to their thoughts and inputs?
DeleteI always tell myself that we all have different talents. Some are good at being zealots for God. I myself serve God in other, more minor ways where my talents are better spent.
ReplyDeleteWe all do, Ed. Mine, as it turns out, do not really fit into the typical mold of "church service". But to your point, am I using those actively (zealously) for good?
DeleteYeah... the "zealous for evil" made me stop and think. I think that mediocre middle ground may be what God calls lukewarm? And we know what He thinks about that... This was another thought provoking post, TB. How zealously do I "do good"?
ReplyDeleteBecki, I had not made the relationship to "lukewarm" but that seems precisely on the mark, to my way of thinking.
DeleteHow to zealously "do good"? I think that can take several forms and not just necessarily the obvious ones like Isaac the Syrian writes of above. To last week's post for example, if I am trying to be kind to everyone, I would argue that is an example of being zealously good.