On Wildfire Sunday last weekend, we had a chance to have our youth and young adults run our whole worship service. I was so blessed by their leading. One of the things that really encouraged me was to see some of our younger Wildfire members serving as part of the team. When I was their age, I think I had barely even begun to assist in our Children’s ministry. So to see them running the whole service together was great!
Youth and young adulthood is such an amazing time to grow in the Lord. Did you know that some of the largest Christian organizations started as student movements? Organizations like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ started as student movements, and today they do lots of work all over the world. We think of young people as having vitality, fervor, and passion in their faith.
But I think that kind of passion is something that we’re to carry within us, in every stage of life. Part of our memory verse from Romans 12 captures this well. It says in verse 11 and 12,
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
The Greek word for “fervor” here is zeó. Along with the idea of being fervent, zeó also means to be hot, or to boil, or to glow. It’s interesting that such an expressive word could be related to serving God. Paul encourages us here to never lose that passion and zeal for serving.
As our stage of life changes, there is always a temptation to sit back in our faith. We get comfortable with familiar patterns and rhythms in our walk with God. While it is definitely good to establish healthy rhythms in our faith, these should be rhythms that encourage us to keep growing, as opposed to just trying to maintain what we have.
In other words, we are to never be lacking in zeal, but keep our spiritual fervor. Growing in faith and having a passion for God is not only for the young. In every stage of life God wants us to serve him passionately, putting to work all that we’ve learned and the best of our skills. And through this, God will continue to grow us in every stage of our lives and our walk with God. I pray that as a church family, we would never lose such passion, fervor, and hunger for God.