Zeal, Will and Underdone Potato

The other day Glen and I were at the gym.  We had already done our walk for the day and perhaps walking in the heat had taken some away some of our enthusiasm for our weight workout.

At one point Glen came up to me and said, "I don't have much zeal for this today."

My reply came out of my mouth without me realizing I had said it, "Better the will than the zeal."

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do 

of His good pleasure." (Philippians 213.)

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, 

that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,  Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, 

through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. 

Amen. (Hebrews 13:21.)

Zeal involves feelings.  Will involves choice and belief.  I can have plenty of zeal and not be acting in the will of the Lord.  I can feel absolutely no zeal, but continue in the Lord's will.  Our feelings are part of that fleshly part of us, easily swayed, easily distracted and easily deceived.  

As Scrooge said to Marley regarding why he doubted his own senses, "Because little things upset them. How do I know you’re not a mere – indigestion? A hard gristle of chop, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato? You’re no more than a stomach upset."

Our feelings can often be changed by "a fragment of underdone potato."  But our will to do the Lord's will is a matter of choice through which He can work in and through us to do "His good pleasure."

Let us have faith that He is currently work in us to will and to do of that "good pleasure" and that He will continue to work in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight.