Friday, February 12, 2016

He is jealous for me...

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There was a time when there was absolutely nothing in existence.  Not even time.  Nothing existed except God.  God conceived in His mind “The Creation” and spoke each molecule of it into being.  God established Himself as the creator of all life.  From this, we can know with all certainty that we are God’s creation, made in His perfect image and for His divine purpose. 

Now I want you to imagine you are Superman and you are married to the most beautiful woman in the world.  She is so beautiful, she constantly faces temptation from other men to leave you.  Your wife has a clear understanding of her vows to be faithful to you and the covenant that she made before God.  But one day you come home from a long day of being a super hero and you see your children are crying, dirty and hungry, and there is a note from your wife on the kitchen table.  The note states that she wants a divorce and she has left you for your arch nemesis, Lex Luthor!  How would you feel toward your wife?  How would you feel toward Lex Luthor?         


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Several verses in the Old Testament refer to God being a Jealous God.  Given that He created everything in existence, I would conclude He has the right to be jealous.  His arch nemesis, Satan, was able to sweet talk God’s most prized possession away from Him on numerous occasions.  When Adam and Eve lived in Eden, Satan took on the appearance of a serpent and was able to persuade Eve to perform an act which God specifically told them not to indulge in.  The very first commandment given to the Israelites while they were wandering on the wilderness was to serve God only and refrain from worshipping false gods.  Time after time, they allowed themselves to be influenced by other cultures and they disobeyed God’s command. 

In each of these instances, we see that the act of turning away from God to indulge in the temptations offered by Satan resulted in catastrophe for mankind.  God knew all along if we yield to temptation, there would literally be hell to pay therefore He gave us warnings to help us make the right decisions.  But we are oftentimes hard headed and need to learn the hard way.  Fortunately, we serve a God who loves harder than our hard heads deserve.

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Though God proclaims Himself to be a jealous God, he does not hold grudges.  He still loves us even when we turn against Him.  How do I know that?  Because The Word says so!  After Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, they had children and most likely lived the rest of their lives in hardship.  Being kicked out of Eden was not the end of their story.  Genesis 4:25-26 states that after Adam and Eve became grandparents, “men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”  Adam sought to re-establish a relationship with God as he saw with his own eyes that choosing evil was a foolish decision.  He wanted his descendants to know God and make better choices.  After God led the Israelites into the Promised Land, they almost immediately disobeyed God’s commands.  God already predicted that would happen and offered them a message of hope through Moses that “…you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him.  For the Lord your God is a merciful God…” 

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So God may be jealous and allow us to face consequences when we sin but He is also merciful and will forgive us when we decide to turn away from sin and return to Him. God’s Jealousy is not like man’s jealousy.  When we are jealous, it leads to sin.  Besides, we have no right to be jealous!  We didn’t spend a week creating everything in existence.  We are all part of the creation, we are God’s possessions and so is everything else.  God’s jealousy does not lead to sin.  It leads to redemption and restoration.   

With this being the month of love, let’s be reminded that God is our first love and His love covers a multitude of sins.  His love is unconditional.  If we want to give in to temptation, He will allow us to walk away from Him but if we decide to come back, He will welcome us into his loving arms.  God wants an exclusive relationship with us.  Make the choice to deny temptations like Jesus did and be faithful to God.


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