Category: Zeal

11/22/2025 2 Comments

Guard Your Deposit

Robert Kayanja walked three miles to school as a nine-year-old. One day after classes, he was exhausted and noticed a pick-up truck that he thought often drove by his home. He asked the driver if he could ride in the back of the truck, and the man said it was okay. But the driver did not turn onto the road to his home; instead, he drove a different direction. Robert saw dead animals in bags in the back of the truck and noticed the men in the cab, and immediately became frightened that he was being kidnapped. He stood up to jump, and the driver shouted at him to sit down as he sped down the road.

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8/18/2025 1 Comment

Ignorance on Fire

Pastor Brett Williams

Pastor Brett Williams made a statement that caught my attention while teaching at Agape Church on Sunday morning. “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.” Now that is an arresting statement that deserves scrutiny.

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4/13/2023 0 Comments

Completely Open

Meditation
2 Corinthians 5:11--Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.

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3/14/2021 0 Comments

Separated Ones

A group of people determined to separate themselves in the pursuit of holiness. They gave themselves a name—Perushim, which means separated ones. Over time as they concentrated on holy living, they became proud and self-righteous. On the outside they looked great but on the inside they rotted.[1]

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7/31/2020 0 Comments

I & II Samuel

If you want to read great books on leadership, read 1st and 2nd Samuel. Early tradition suggests that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book in scripture so I will do my best to examine the combined 55 chapters and share key leadership lessons. No author is named for these books but scholars largely credit the prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad. Based on 1 Sa. 27:6, the writing may not have been completed until about 930 B.C.[1]

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4/2/2019 0 Comments

Living an Honorable Life

The Denver West Point Society hosted its first Leadership and Ethics Conference for high school juniors in Colorado. It was entitled “Living an Honorable Life.” General (ret) George Casey served as the keynote speaker. I had the privilege of hosting at my table six juniors—Amaya, Grace, Elias, Sandra, Caleb and Haley representing three different high schools and towns. We studied vignettes that featured moral/ethical dilemmas with the students working through ethical decision-making models to reach wise solutions.

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4/25/2007

Earnestness

I received an email last week along with scores of other pastors, from a man by the name of Rick. Because of the poor representation in Salem, Oregon’s capital, by spiritual leaders against the impending legislation that grants civil liberties and benefits to homosexuals he was spurred to send out an exhortation. He feels we are failing in our duties as shepherds to speak out against sin. His appeal caused me to think much about what it means to be earnest.

7/9/2005 0 Comments

Pressure

The top supervisor position in a Brigade I will be commanding opens at the end of the month. A team of four of us conducted interviews with three job applicants. One of the individuals on the hiring team, Jack,* clearly favored one of the applicants and pressured the rest of us to hire her. His choice did the best job fielding questions and technically seemed the most competent for the job. By the end of the interviews the team leaned towards hiring her. Inwardly I did not feel comfortable selecting her. It felt like we were rushing to make a hire—squeezed by time and loyalty to select a woman who had served in our organization a long time. I silently asked God for His help that we would do the right thing. Instead of immediately offering her the position I gained approval from the other three leaders to conduct a more thorough background check.

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11/11/1999 0 Comments

Crusaders

Meditation
Galatians 4:17, 5:6-- They are enthusiastic about you, but not for any good. Instead, they want to isolate you so you will be enthusiastic about them . . . For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

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3/16/1999 0 Comments

Zeal

Meditation
Romans 10:2--I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

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10/14/1997 0 Comments

Reality

Uncontrolled zeal is fanaticism—a condition never endorsed in the Bible. Unfulfilled verbiage is hype—a first cousin to hypocrite. We become unreal when we have all the right answers but neglect application. Most people quickly learn to spot smoke devoid of fire.

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