Week 13
Enthusiasm
…they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:11
Enthusiasm is hard to maintain in the long run. Enthusiasm takes energy and my energy is in short supply. I have been leading Bible studies in my church for more than a decade. Sometimes, when I asked questions to participants for the purposes of expanding understanding and sharing experiences, I got silence as a response. I got mad quietly and I just wanted to leave. Nothing killed my enthusiasm more than an indifferent audience. What I really want is a Berean audience who received the word of God with great eagerness. But the Holy Spirit reveals to me that a silent audience is not the killer of my enthusiasm. The culprit is the wrong focus I place as a source of my enthusiasm. Habakkuk 3:17-19 says, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength.” Genuine, long-lasting enthusiasm can only come from rejoicing in the Savior Himself. As long as we rely on the result of our efforts to sustain enthusiasm, enthusiasm will flee from us.
God, help me to focus on You to stay enthusiastic in serving You. In Your Name, I pray. Amen.