Zealously Preaching and Making Disciples
1 Preaching the Kingdom message and making disciples constitute a fine work. So much so, that it is worthy of our whole-souled effort. Have you been giving it zealous support?
2 What is zeal? For a Christian, it is an eagerness to pursue what is right, based on love of Jehovah and his requirements. A zealous person is active and ardent, alive with the truth. His zeal is like a fire within him, motivating him. His heart is in the preaching and disciple-making work. He looks for opportunities to preach.
ZEALOUS ONES IN BIBLE TIMES
3 Some Jews in the first century had “zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge.” (Rom. 10:2) Their zeal was misdirected. We must have zeal based on accurate knowledge to build faith and love for God. If our zeal is diminishing or we are lacking zeal, there are definite things we can do. Jehovah will fire us with zeal if we heighten our appreciation for him, if we regularly attend the meetings, study, pray for his blessing, and make the effort to engage in the preaching and disciple-making work. Doing these things will put us in a position to be like Jeremiah who was zealous in carrying out his commission.—Jer. 20:9.
4 Concerning Jesus, it was said: “The zeal for your house will eat me up.” (Ps. 69:9; John 2:17) Jesus’ example of zeal had a powerful effect on his first-century apostles and disciples, as a reading of the book of Acts will reveal. Observing that the zeal of the Corinthian Christians had a good effect on those of Achaia, Paul declared: “Your zeal has stirred up the majority of them.”—2 Cor. 9:2.
5 Like the brothers in the Corinthian congregation, many of our brothers today are filled with zeal and this sets a fine example for others. Consider this fine report we received from a congregation of 83 publishers. A total of 51 spent a monthly average of 12 hours in the service; another 28 served as auxiliary pioneers, spending almost 56 hours on the average in the service, and four are serving as regular pioneers. The congregation as a whole made 845 return visits, conducted 68 Bible studies and placed over 1,600 pieces of literature. A month of zealous activity like that is encouraging to all of us, isn’t it?
WAYS ZEAL CAN BE SHOWN
6 Zeal will motivate us to look for and to take every opportunity to preach the good news. In addition to sharing regularly with the congregation in group witnessing, we will be alert to witness informally, showing that we are alive with the truth. You may want to take literature with you to work, when you go shopping, or when you visit the doctor. Many fine experiences are enjoyed by zealous publishers who do so. And your zeal will motivate you to keep a record of the interest shown and regularly call back on interested ones in an effort to start Bible studies. Another way we can demonstrate our zeal is by encouraging irregular and inactive ones to join us in the field service. Having a schedule of service can also be an indication of zeal. Zeal is contagious.
7 This month we will have many occasions to demonstrate our zeal for Jehovah by our preaching and disciple-making work. May we continue to be a “people peculiarly his own, zealous for fine works.”—Titus 2:14.