Answer: We should always serve the Lord with zeal--spiritual fervor, (verse 11).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The New International Version of the Bible translates verse 11 as "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." The King James Version of the Bible translates verse 11 as "not slothful in business; fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."
"Business" in the KJV is "diligence." It comes from the Greek words spoude (the noun) and spoudazo (the verb). It means "endeavor, pains (as in "taking great pains" to accomplish a task), to hasten to do a thing or the haste itself, to exert oneself or the exertion itself, to give diligence to or the diligence itself, earnestness, zeal" (as in "I endeavor to do my work well," or "I take great pains with my work," or "I had to really exert myself to complete this work on time," or "the endeavor required great diligence," etc.).
"Slothful" in the KJV is from the Greek word okneros and means "shrinking, or irksome." To "irk" or to be "irksome" is "to make weary, to irritate, to bore--to annoy." To "shrink" or to be "shrinking" is to "to draw back or away, to become smaller, to lessen in value, to recoil, to flinch, to quail."
So what you have in this verse is a person that the child of God should NOT be like--a person who is lacking in zeal, one who shrinks or is timid about doing their work, one who makes other people weary, one who irritates others, one who annoys others, one who seems to disappear when it is time to work or when any work needs to be done on a daily basis. They recoil, flinch and quail at the mere idea of continually working for the Lord, and thus begin their excuses, whining and complaining. The "business" of everyday life in service to the Lord is undertaken by these kinds of people without fervor, or zeal. And this is what a Christian should NOT be in any part of their daily lives:
2 Timothy 1:7: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
We are to be "fervent" in our spirit, which the New International Version of the Bible translates here as "spiritual fervor." "Fervent" or "fervor" comes from the Greek word zeo, and it means, "to be hot, to boil." And our English word "zeal" comes from this word. We are to have a "spiritual fervor"--boiling hot, on fire--as we serve the Lord daily. Everything we do is in service to the Lord:
Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
So this verse can be translated as the Living Bible does, "Never be lazy in your work but serve the Lord enthusiastically." Or it can be translated as the Revised Standard Version of the Bible does, "Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord." This would be our spirits serving with the spiritual fervor provided by the Holy Spirit. One catches the "fire" of the Holy Spirit so that one's spirit glows, or is ablaze, with zeal in all works of one's daily life!
To sum up the discussion above, 2 Timothy 1:6-7 says:
"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame [spiritual fervor, zeal, enthusiasm, diligence] the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity [lacking in zeal, slothful], but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [fervent in spirit, spiritual fervor, on fire, aglow, boiling hot]."
(NOTE: The gifts of God which were transferred to various people through the laying on of the apostles hands has ceased. They ceased with the death of the apostles. These gifts of God were to "confirm the Word" at a time when the written Word (the Bible) was not yet complete. They were proofs that the men who where teaching the Gospel were from Jesus, the same as the miracles of Jesus were to confirm that He was from God. Since we now have the Word of God in its inspired--God-breathed--written form, these "confirmations" are no longer part of God's plan. They have served their purpose, and they do not exist today. See John 10:22-39; John 20:30-31; 1 Corinthians 13:8-9.)
Our "gift of God" is eternal life THROUGH His Son. We should be "on fire" to do our work for Him, to serve Him with diligence, to glow with His Spirit in us and to glorify Him before the world as we reflect His radiance in our lives in all that we say and do.
