Passion in the absence of love is dangerous. Passion in and of itself is one of the most powerful human drives, it can be blinding and deceiving. Passion without respect and love amounts to lust, and the object of our lust is never fully human in our own eyes.
We can easily see how devastating this is in dealing with sexuality, but how about religion? Lust-driven religion causes a person to see other human beings as potential conquests, as sources of gratification — it is a dehumanizing force. We see the fruit of it in Islam, where we find the subjugation of women and moving non-believers (or simply those who disagree on points of doctrine) to sub-human status in actions and in minds. It is about lust, not about zeal.
Zeal should be a holy thing, zeal should be driven by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Zeal should be a protective force instead of a violating force. Zeal should inspire loyalty, zeal should be purifying, zeal should desire good for men and not evil. Zeal should only seek to desire the destruction of true evil, not of mere opposition.
Many who claim to have zeal for Messiah and God’s holy word, have only a lust for knowledge and conquest. Messiah and scripture without love gives one neither Messiah nor God’s truth. It is an illusion. Love tempers passion into zeal, whereas the lack of love warps passion into lust.
When we deny our lusts we can attain the status of the Bride of Messiah. He does not desire a lustful Bride, but one pure and spotless. The Bride, like her Bridegroom, would sooner die than allow someone to languish in sin. Her passionate zeal is the cause of weeping and prayer and worship, she does not leave a trail of wounded people in her wake. She behaves like a Queen, full of grace. She is virginal in her intentions towards others, not bent on domination, she has no eye for conquest. She administrates the Word of her Bridegroom, his Law (Torah in Hebrew), in love and not as a source of destructive pride.
We must always ask ourselves, am I zealous or am I lustful? Am I a Bride in training or a Harlot by trade?