Putting God to the Test
April 19, 2024
The eager heart
August 16, 2018
But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. - 2 CORINTHIANS 8:16
The earnest heart is full of zeal and eagerness. Eagerness alone can actually be misleading. Paul wrote in ROMANS 10 about folks who had zeal without knowledge. They were the bulls in the spiritual china closet, wrecking themselves and everything in sight. Many a cultist has died over empty zeal.
The person zealous for God will see only one thing, pleasing God. Such a heart will be well-salted with prayer and God’s word, but zeal is its pepper. There are people zealous for themselves. Years ago, I eagerly signed up for a golf tournament, wanting to play in the championship group, but found out quickly my zeal for myself was over-inflated!
The eagerness of heart God puts in Titus is the zeal of serving God through ministering to others. This is one of the ways you can determine if your earnestness is empty or genuine. Empty eagerness causes you to be zealous for your own benefit, while God’s zeal gets you directed toward Him and others.
TODAY’S FOCUS
Set your heart through prayer to an eagerness to glorify God and serve others in Jesus’ name.
