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September 19 Keep the Zeal Alive!

Pursue righteousness and love and find life, prosperity and honor. ~Proverbs 21:21


Remember those early days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in the great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. ~Hebrews 10:32-39

Our son Matt had an interesting fitness plan going on a while back before Covid. In Grand Rapids, where he lives, there are many 5 K runs going on to raise money for this and that. Matt was using running as his exercise of choice at the time and to stay motivated, he would see himself in training for some of those runs.

Thought it can get expensive with entry fees, he would enter the actual run from time to time, to keep himself motivated and to demonstrate to himself that his workouts really had a purpose. For Matt, the byproducts of focus became, staying in shape, and blessing a few causes along the way.

All of us do better when we have goals that keep us motivated. Sometimes, we get so focused on the goals that we either ignore, or don’t realize the byproducts of our pursuits. Sometimes, while the goals may be good, the byproducts around us are not. For example, the one who pursues money at the cost of family. The person who pursues money does not set out to destroy relationships. Think of Scrooge and all he lost out of the fear of not having enough to survive on. His loss was a byproduct of his misguided goals.

We could probably list many goals that, when pursued single mindedly, have unintended negative consequences. It’s the idea of the ladder up the wrong wall again. However, Solomon encourages goals that have good byproducts that end up blessing us as well as others. He says: If you “Pursue righteousness and love,” you will “find life, prosperity and honor,” as a byproduct of that pursuit.

Wow! When you think about it, it’s kind of incredible how it works. We should be pursuing love and righteous just because those are good goals for us to have. We aren’t necessarily seeking honor, prosperity and long life, but we have a better chance of obtaining those things as we put better things first, seeking to love others as Christ loved and desiring to live obedient lives, submitted to His Will, which is part of righteousness.

If we sought prosperity or honor as our goals, we could run the risk of alienating those around us and end up being frustrated in the end. The same with long life, if that were our goal, we again could become frustrated. No Matter how well we care for ourselves, or work out, God controls the length of our lives. It is out of our control. If, however, we are pursuing Him, the life we will gain is eternal, which is longer than any length of days we may realize here on earth.

The people to whom the book of Hebrews was written were getting discouraged. They had started out with zeal, pursuing godly goals. But then, the opposition began, much worse than any of us have ever probably experienced. We probably haven’t ever lost homes or possessions because of our pursuit of Christ, but they had. So, the writer of Hebrews was encouraging them to stay the course toward the original goals of Christ. “Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

Can you hear it? Keep striving to be righteous! Keep striving to be loving! Long life, prosperity and honor are just around the corner if you just hold on a little longer! How wonderful that when we focus on what He values, there is added blessing for all in the end. We can probably use a dose of that encouragement as well. So, be encouraged to keep God’s goals in focus. Keep your zeal alive!

Prayer: Father, even though I love You, living for You is harder than I want it to be. Strengthen my zeal and motivation to have a holy life as my goal. May one of the byproducts be the joy of leading others into this blessed life. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Song: Light the Fire 




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