Romans 12:11: Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Such fervent loving calls for our best and is costly. Luther said he worked so hard that when he went to bed he literally fell into bed. In fact, one account says he did not change his bed for a year! Now that is tired! Moody’s bedtime prayer as he rolled his great bulk into bed on one occasion was, “Lord, I am tired. Amen.” Calvin’s biographers marvel at his output. John Wesley rode sixty to seventy miles a day and on average preached three sermons a day. When Alexander Maclaren went into his study, he would take off his slippers and put on working men’s boots because he knew that a minister of God is to be a working man! True love labors. 1
Application
- There is a difference between serving and serving sacrificially. Do you experience that difference very often?
- This call of diligence and fervency is worked out while others are at play or asleep. This can not be taught. It is a passion that comes from within the soul of a servant of the Lord. It is for His pleasure, not others.
Prayer
Lord, help me to be more honoring to You. It is my desire to become more diligent.
1. Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.