Let Love Lead
… In Our Service to God – Part IV

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-21

Key Verse: Romans 12:11
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Have you ever felt that your service to God lacked energy and passion? You may have seen someone who has served God and the church for many years but has lost their energy.

Perhaps the Apostle Paul saw something like this in his day, and that is why he wrote our Key Verse for today.

We are to serve the Lord with “zeal”, which is serving with great energy and enthusiasm. We can only serve with zeal when we have the proper perspective about our service.

We may decide to take on a job in the church because no one else was stepping up. Far too many people take a job in the church because they felt they could not say “no”. We may feel a sense of obligation, but no real passion. When someone takes a job in the church for these kinds of reasons, it is not long before they feel no zeal or enthusiasm for the work.

If a church can create an atmosphere of ministry rather than a sense of a “job”, lay people would start seeking their personal ministry. When a person sees what they are doing as “their ministry”, there may be fatigue at times, but zeal for the work is much more likely.

The Apostle Paul challenges Christ-followers to keep their “spiritual fervor” while serving the Lord. Fervor is an intense and enthusiastic feeling that one has when they are doing something that is “their ministry”. Our fundamental love for God drives these feelings. Once we learn to let love lead in our service to Him, we are likely have zeal and fervor in our service.

The question that all Christ-followers should ask themselves is: Why am I doing what I am doing in the church? Is my service about my love for God, or is it about what I want others to think of me?

Everything we offer to God should come from a cheerful heart and that becomes the source of zeal and passion.

In considering where you want to serve God and His Kingdom, a good place to start is identifying your passions in life. When you hear of a ministry opportunity, does it make your “heart beat a little faster”, so to speak?

God is not likely to ask you to do something that you do not like. God matches the needs of His Kingdom to the passions of His people and leads them there!

We may want to try an area of service before we know if we like it or not. If that area of service does not fit, we should not feel guilty for deciding not to do it. It is to everyone’s benefit to find the ministry that gives us great joy because that normally results in excellent service.

Father, help me to never let my service to You be a job that makes me miserable. Guide my steps to the ministry for which You have created me. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.