Most of us have those favourite Bible characters that we identify with or aspire to. Popular contenders from the Old Testament are usually people like Moses, Ruth, David or Elijah. In the first century, when Jesus came, one of the most popular Bible characters for pious Jews was Phinehas. He was, for example, the hero of the Zealots. They admired him for his zeal in standing up for God’s honour. And at the time God commended Phinehas too. For the average first century Zealot, to follow in the footsteps of Phinehas meant a willingness to take violent revolutionary action for God’s cause. The problem was, by this time, God was no longer wanting his people to fight flesh and blood battles with worldly weapons. That was something of a necessary evil and Jesus came to call his people to a different way. The Zealots’ zeal was misguided nationalism. It was a very human agenda. We tend to be very selective about how we express our zeal for God. We are prone to show zeal in areas that suit us but have very little to do with what God wants at the time. You might be prepared to make lots of noise about big issues of faith and morality when God simply wants you to show your zeal by being a more considerate spouse. We like doing the ‘big things’ because big loud deeds make us feel good about ourselves. But God is often more interested in the small quiet deeds. If you are zealous for God, it will show in the small things.
Think about where God is calling you to show your zeal for him.
Read Numbers 25
