Spurgeon: June PM
* 06/07/PM
"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.