Zealous of Good Works

Zealous of good works
by Pete Berardi

Passion has been a buzzword ever since I can remember. When I first entered the work force almost two decades ago one book in particular stood out as “gospel”. The title of the book was “Do what You Love, and the Money will Follow”. It was recommended to me by our corporate sales trainer. It was put on the shelves near the entrance of the bookstores. Quotes from the book were plastered in magazine and newspaper articles. The point of the book was that if a person does something where money is the sole motivation he will not be as successful as someone that works at something that he is passionate about. The word passion does occur in the Bible, however it has a completely different meaning. The Bible quotes the word passion in Acts 1:3

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

This particular reference is pointing to Christ’s death on the cross. Zeal on the other hand, is very similar to passion. Webster’s defines zeal as an eagerness or ardent interest in pursuit of something or fervor. Passion is listed as a synonym for zeal as well.

Consider this verse from Titus 2:14

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Jesus died on the cross so that we would be free from sin. His death purifies us as we are cleansed in and by his blood. He was the perfect sacrifice. God’s chosen people are not like regular people. God’s chosen are born of God, and are separate from all others unto God. God’s chosen should be zealous of good works.

This means that Christians should be seeking first the kingdom God, seeking his will, following his commandments. Christians should be doing these things because it is our passion. It is our love for God that causes us to obey him. It is our zeal for the word of God and our passion for Jesus that drives us to do good works. Dear Lord, I pray for the zeal from the Holy Spirit to be given to me and to all Christians. It is this zeal that will protect us from evil, deliver us from sin, and help us to grow your kingdom. Amen.