Psalm 69:9 says: “Zeal for Thy house has consumed me.” This scripture was fulfilled especially in Christ when He cleansed the Temple, but it has application yet for servants of God: we might pray that the zeal of more of God’s people today was for His house.

We see zeal among God’s people for so many things other than the house of the Lord: zeal for money – so many are consumed with it; zeal for personal promotion – how many are quick to set themselves in the limelight?; zeal for one’s favorite sports team; and so on.

We might wish that that there would be more evident zeal for the house of the Lord today; for His church. So many are apathetic about the church, and care nothing about the quality or content of what goes on there. They are ignorant of Biblical standards; careless about the world’s standards creeping into the church. There is not much evidence of zeal for the church.

If we had zeal for the church, how would it manifest itself? It would show itself in prayer: in time and fervor and quality of prayer for every aspect of the church. It would surely make a difference in attendance — it would be hard to make a case that one had zeal for the church if he was not very consistent in attendance. It would also manifest itself in upholding standards of holiness in the church; in generous giving to support it; in the submission of one’s own personal will and preferences for the good of others, lest controversy be stirred that might disturb the peace and success of the church. If such are the fruits of zeal for the church, how many of us could truly say, as the Psalmist did here, “Zeal for Thy house has consumed me?”