Evening, June 7
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Revelation 3:19
"Be zealous."
Revelation 3:19
If you would see souls converted, if you would hear the cry that "the
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord;" if you
would place crowns upon the head of the Saviour, and his throne lifted
high, then be filled with zeal. For, under God, the way of the world's
conversion must be by the zeal of the church. Every grace shall do
exploits, but this shall be first; prudence, knowledge, patience, and
courage will follow in their places, but zeal must lead the van. It is
not the extent of your knowledge, though that is useful; it is not the
extent of your talent, though that is not to be despised; it is your
zeal that shall do great exploits. This zeal is the fruit of the Holy
Spirit: it draws its vital force from the continued operations of the
Holy Ghost in the soul. If our inner life dwindles, if our heart beats
slowly before God, we shall not know zeal; but if all be strong and
vigorous within, then we cannot but feel a loving anxiety to see the
kingdom of Christ come, and his will done on earth, even as it is in
heaven. A deep sense of gratitude will nourish Christian zeal. Looking
to the hole of the pit whence we were digged, we find abundant reason
why we should spend and be spent for God. And zeal is also stimulated
by the thought of the eternal future. It looks with tearful eyes down
to the flames of hell, and it cannot slumber: it looks up with anxious
gaze to the glories of heaven, and it cannot but bestir itself. It
feels that time is short compared with the work to be done, and
therefore it devotes all that it has to the cause of its Lord. And it
is ever strengthened by the remembrance of Christ's example. He was
clothed with zeal as with a cloak. How swift the chariot-wheels of duty
went with him! He knew no loitering by the way. Let us prove that we
are his disciples by manifesting the same spirit of zeal.