Topic: ZEAL FOR GOD BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE
Bible Reading: Psalm 88-89; Romans 10.
Memory Verse: “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Romans 10:2 (KJV)
ZEAL means great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. Zeal for God, therefore, is having great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of things of God. The challenge here is ensuring that what you are pursuing is exactly what God wants you to pursue. Imagine a student who is studying for a course and got a curriculum which is different from that of the course he is pursuing. Assuming he studies day and night using that curriculum and satisfies himself that he had covered all aspects of the curriculum but when the final examination comes, he finds out that the questions are completely outside the curriculum he had used in studying. He will likely fail the exam and more disappointingly given his zeal for the examination. This is the case with Saul, when he had the zeal to seve God but not of the knowledge of God. Thus, he ended persecuting the God, he thought he was serving! Jesus said to him in Acts 26:14b (KJV), “…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
For a good understanding of Paul’s state of mind before this encounter, he said in Acts 26:9-11 (KJV), “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. [10] Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. [11] And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”
It was after his encounter that he knew that he was having zeal for God without Knowledge! This is why he felt so bad for his fellow Jews who were also persecuting Christians as he did. Thus, he said in Romans 10:2 (KJV), “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Now, how is your zeal? Is it according to knowledge of God? You need to study the word of God and understand it and not just rely on what your brethren or even Pastor tell you. You need to be like the Berean Christians. The Bible says of them in Acts 17:11 (KJV), “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
How well do you search the scriptures to confirm what you hear from your teachers or pastors? It’s important that you search the scripture yourself, memorise some key verses and meditate over them so that you can have a deeper understanding and thus live according to the word. This will help you be one whose zeal for God is based on knowledge.
Action Point: Search the scriptures regularly to understand the mind of God and apply it to your living.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero