Category: Zeal

He said, “Well, Brother Hedge was asking you if you were on the Lord’s side.” Dad, a lover of words his whole life also added that guerdon was a very old Germanic/French word that probably refers to the reward a knight received from his lord for his military service. The spiritual application of this was to learn if I was the Lord’s man or not.

Balance in our lives and our teaching is necessary to keep us from tipping to one extreme or the other, neither of which is good. In the end, however, our devotion to God cannot be tempered without becoming lukewarm. There is no middle option for eternity. Choose Heaven today by obeying Christ and accepting God’s grace, for you need it.

To be sure, let us work at whatever business appeals to us to support our families, but let us also be busy for the Lord.

Jesus is our great Shield and Defender. Though we may face times of persecution and physical suffering (2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pet. 4:12-16), no one will be able to harm us spiritually, against our will. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:35-39). If we determine to resist him, not even Satan can stop us from spreading the word (Jas. 4:7).

As we decorate the rooms of our lives, may we be diligent not to have a religion room that we visit every so often. May our religion be anything but vain. Watch our tongues. See to our work. Be busy in spreading the gospel. Get your religion on the table and work with it every day.

A recognition of the current troubles that face the people of God ought to rouse each of us to a zeal for Him and His word. It ought to cause us to conform our conversation to revealed standards, and cause us to “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered” (cf. Jude 3) against all error.