To That We Can All Say “Amen”!

“Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor;

be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.”

Romans 12:11 (Amplified)

 

 

Back in my scouting days one of my favorite things to do was hike.

As I grew older and moved from a scout attending camp to scout staff at the camp my days off were often spent on a hike.

I learned early, and it was often repeated, that safety considerations required that you never hike alone.

The Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York, home of the scout camp, are not the Rockies, the Alps or the Himalayas but they still demand a healthy respect for safety’s sake.

Whenever we hiked we were always reminded:

“Do not lag behind”.

Lagging behind meant separation and separation meant you did not have others to help if you were lost, hurt or in danger in some other way.

Lagging behind in zeal and earnest endeavor in our walk with the Lord also comes with real hazards.

Paul rightly cautions against it in today’s verse.

Isolation, apathy and idleness do not set our feet on a course whose destination is good.

It seems we can always find excuses (though we want to label them as legitimate and valid reasons, not excuses) why we need to separate from others, why we need to take some time to do nothing or why we just are not interested in doing what is right and good.

But, like the hiker left alone in the woods, we can become untethered from the faithful, and disoriented in our solitude.

Before you know it the zeal and passion we had for reaching our destination is lost.

When the way gets hard it is no time to lag behind.

Stir up that passion and zeal for the Lord.

Set your hands and feet in service to others.

We really cannot say it any better than Paul…

“…be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.”

To that we can all say “Amen!”