Sacrificial Life of a Zealot

Last summer after the Desperation Conference held at my church, I have been drawn to the word ZEAL. God stirred up an understanding of the concept of having a zeal for HIM and my ears strain to hear a conversation that might mention this said ZEAL (read my blog "Diving Into Glorious Misery of Self dissatisfaction" on July 3, '08 to read more about that initial revelation...). As I decided to live this all out-no reservations-fully abandoned life for God I have begun to wonder what the life of a ZEALOT actually looks like. I found the answer in Romans 12. Over the next couple of my blogs I want to break down what I see as some of the characteristics of a zealot might be.

"Never be lacking in ZEAL, but have spiritual fervor serving the Lord." -Rom. 12:11
This is the central verse that I keep coming back to-to never lack in ZEAL. Its in the surrounding scriptures that we find the answer to what a life lived as a ZEALOT looks like, what characters do we see in the life of a zealot?

(1) Be Willing To Sacrifice
The first portion of Romans 12, i mentioned in my most recent blog, seems to center around living sacrificially. To offer our bodies as 'living sacrifices.' There are many things we have to sacrifice in the midst of our passionate pursuit of God, but they are truly minuscule in comparison to the reward you receive. Some of the things we read in Romans that must be sacrificed is our way of thought. "Do not be conformed to this world but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind." We must make the conscious effort to think differently. We must be willing to give up the thoughts of a broken, defeated sinner who is struggling to love God with passion and realize our identity lies in the fact that we are crazy-in-love saints who get tripped up with sin. Our thoughts need to be as a lover of God and not a loser who is under the enemies feet.
Another thing that a zealot must be willing to sacrifice as they run the race is found in verse 3, "...Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you." In my own paraphrasing- we need to let go of this idea that we have it all together and have got everything going the way we want it to. If we tell ourselves that we are the creme of the crop-we are fooling ourselves. A 'zealot' who is always talking themselves up to those around them will loose their effectiveness in witnesses for Christ. Their self pride will be seen as cheap, and show they have little confidence in who they are. BUT WAIT, you may think, "didnt you just say how we need to think as these people who are loved by God and all this fluffiness? Isnt looking all humble a contradiction of that?" We must change the way we think to be confidently humble. We don't need to talk ourselves up-because there is no need to prove ourselves by our own merit. We've got that covered if we just focus on getting closer to God-that's all a zealot is worried about. We cant be consumed with our short comings OR our accomplishments.

(2) Strive for Unity and Do Your Part
Being a ZEALOT may feel lonely at times. You may be the only one in your group of friends willing to sound "upity" as you decided to not see that movie or not talk about that thing. It can seem to set you apart because you are trying to live to a higher standard that you know to be a worthy cause-but ZEALOTS as a rule can't live life Rambo style. You have to lean on others and work off of their strengths. In verse 5 we read, "We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others." We need each other to build up the body, this thing known as the church. God has strategically placed you in the local body for a specific reason with a specific purpose and you need to seek to fulfill that purpose in its season.
We have to stop kicking each other while we're down-its time for the church to be who CHRIST created it to be, the church that Christ saw in his minds eye as he hung on that cross. The Spotless Bride that Jesus the Son is prepareing a home for in Heaven, its time to start living that way. That bride is full of zealots, passionate people sold out for Christ. The only way we can be that bride is if we begin to work together in unity and honor each other's roles in this epic romance. While we need to not get envious of each others role we must also work to the best of our ability to fill the position God has for us. The Body needs its hand, feet, mouth and everything else.

So how about it? Are you willing to sacrifice whats necessary to live out that faith dance with Christ? Are you willing to make the exceptional choice of faith and do anything and everything for the cause of Christ? Are you ready to lend yourself-your body as a living sacrifice to those around you, and to lean on them in your need?

Live the sacrificial life as a zealot and you'll live a life that can be experienced to the fullest.