“[F]or you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…” Exodus 34:14 In university, my best friend and I liked to joke that we were just like the Lord: we were “jealous lovers”. When the celebrities we adored (heaven-forbid) married women that were not us, or if one of us made plans without the other, that jealous love would rear its ugly – and often hilarious – head. It may have been a possessive “love”, but in reality, it was not much like God’s. In scripture, God’s jealousy unfurls when His people give the worship that belongs to Him to an idol. He is jealous for those things that belong exclusively to Him: praise and worship, service and thanksgiving, our very hearts. God could demand our love, even compel us to worship and adore Him, but by giving us free will He requests it instead. It is given in a commandment, but we have the freedom to obey or not, to pour out our affections and attention in any direction. Even though He is the only One who deserves it, this gift of free will tells us that God wants us to worship out of desire rather than force. Our love for Him, like His for us, should be a gift that we take joy in giving. As God reveals Himself to us and we begin to see Him clearly, we know that no idol could merit our love and devotion the way He does. His is a holy and righteous jealousy. Whatever you put between you and God lessens your joy ,effectiveness, peace, and about anything else you can think of. Tia Glenn-Cooke/Klein https://youtube/watch?v=Uwcy4sDfnEk
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:39:54 +0000
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