Zeal is a word we don’t hear as often today, as it’s often replaced by passion. Zeal refers to an intense enthusiasm, eagerness, or dedication toward a cause, belief, or goal. It conveys a sense of energetic devotion, whether in religious, political, intellectual, or personal pursuits. Passion, on the other hand, is best defined as a strong and intense emotion or enthusiasm for something or someone. It can signify deep love, devotion, or excitement, as well as powerful feelings of anger or suffering. The key to both words is extreme devotion.
Having zeal or passionate feelings is not inherently wrong. As emotional beings, humans naturally develop deep devotion to certain topics and individuals, often feeling strongly about what matters most to them. However, Satan is aware of this and seeks to exploit it. He can trick you into developing passion for things that are unpleasing to God and deceive you into thinking your zeal is rooted in the right place. All the while, he manipulates our emotional nature to lead us astray.
The Apostle Paul provides with great teaching on this concept as well as provides as a true lived example of misplaced zeal.
Let’s first look at his teachings to the Romans:
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. – Romans 10: 1 – 4
In this passage from Romans, Paul addressed the fact that many in Israel continued to reject the truth about Jesus. He acknowledged that they were zealous for God, but their intense devotion and loyalty were not rooted in knowledge. As a result, they began to establish their own systems of righteousness and law, equating them with God’s will.
Here, we learn that it is possible to have a zeal for God that is not rooted in knowledge. Without the right understanding, this zeal becomes meaningless and can even be harmful, as it may lead us to establish our own laws or systems apart from God’s truth.
Paul himself is a prime example of the dangers of uninformed or misplaced zeal. He confirms this multiple times.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. – Phil. 3:5 – 6
And looking intently at the council, Paul said, ‘Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. – Acts 23:1
PPaul was very open about having lived his entire life zealous for God. He was deeply devoted to serving and pleasing God. However, that zeal was not always rooted in truth, which led him to persecute God’s church. Everything he did under that misguided zeal, he did with a clear conscience, believing himself to be faultless.
But later to Timothy, Paul tells us exactly what those actions actually made him:
Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. – 1 Tim. 1:13
While he may have believed his actions pleased God, he was actually an opponent and blasphemer of God because his zeal was rooted in ignorance.
Jesus warns us about living a life with misplaced zeal for God:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. – Matthew 7: 21 – 23
Just because we believe we are serving God and acting in a way that pleases Him doesn’t necessarily mean that we actually are. This is the mask of zeal that Satan uses. He has convinced millions of people throughout history, even to this day, that they are serving God, while blinding them to the true nature of their zeal.
But, God has not left us without defenses against this Satan tactic of Satan. Jesus’ warning about misplaced zeal is near the very end of his Sermon on the Mount and is immediately followed by his famous conclusion analogy:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
Those who want to avoid the trick of misplaced zeal must constantly check their zealous works against the teachings of God. Is what we are doing aligned with the word of God? Are you following God’s commandments or are we following a version of God’s commands we’ve made for ourselves.
We must always remember the statement God made through Hosea: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you. God will reject us if we act without knowledge, and our ignorant actions will lead to our destruction.
So, how do we avoid this? Interestingly, our lesson brings us back to Paul, who later tells Timothy:
Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. – 2 Tim. 2:15
We study God’s Word so we can rightly understand and apply it, and only then can we be workers who are not ashamed. #SinsGreatMasquerade
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