Bible Verses About Religious Zeal

And with him we are sending the brother whose work for the Good News is praised in all the congregations;

I know how eager you are, and I boast about you to the Macedonians. I tell them, “Achaia has been ready since last year,” and it was your zeal that stirred up most of them.

For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way;

We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah.

We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more,

namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.

Or did I sin in humbling myself so that you could be exalted, in proclaiming God’s Good News to you free of charge?

And when I was with you and had needs, I did not burden anyone: my needs were met by the brothers who came from Macedonia. In nothing have I been a burden to you, nor will I be.

No, I do it — and will go on doing it — in order to cut the ground from under those who want an excuse to boast that they work the same way we do.

Are they Hebrew-speakers? So am I. Are they of the people of Isra’el? So am I. Are they descendants of Avraham? So am I.

Are they servants of the Messiah? (I’m talking like a madman!) I’m a better one! I’ve worked much harder, been imprisoned more often, suffered more beatings, been near death over and over.

Five times I received “forty lashes less one” from the Jews.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

In my many travels I have been exposed to danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the desert, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.

I have toiled and endured hardship, often not had enough sleep, been hungry and thirsty, frequently gone without food, been cold and naked.

And besides these external matters, there is the daily pressure of my anxious concern for all the congregations.

Who is weak without my sharing his weakness? Who falls into sin without my burning inside?

If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am.

God the Father of the Lord Yeshua — blessed be he forever — knows that I am not lying!

When I was in Dalmanuta, the governor under King Aretas had the city of Dalmanuta guarded in order to arrest me;

but I was lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped his clutches.

Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.

Look, I am ready this third time to come and visit you; and I will not be a burden to you; for it is not what you own that I want, but you! Children are not supposed to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

And as for me, I will most gladly spend everything I have and be spent myself too for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

Was it perhaps through someone I sent you