"for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD... is a jealous God." - Exodus 34:14
"You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God... - Deuteronomy 6: 14-15Lately, I've been really thinking about that, you know curiosity and i was wondering why would the God of the universe be jealous of who i am spending my devotion on...I am one of many, puny in a sense and he is GOD. Now please don't get me wrong, i love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind but sometimes these questions come to my mind. Anyway the Holy Spirit helped me see something and that's a key word in these verses are *drum-roll* 'Idols!'
Therefore when it comes to you loving something more than when you love him, he is jealous...so in a nutshell, we understand that these things become idols in our lives. Man does not think like God thinks nor is God like man though we are made in his imagine, His jealousy is not like ours, what God created man corrupted. When i looked up the definition of Idols it said that it means:
"Any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration or devotion."Now that caused my mind to buzz, can you think of anything apart from the LORD that you hold to like that? could be a singer, a brand...a family member, or action like reading, anything really! But still i didn't fully grasp the fullness of it, the momentousness of it really, why would the Lord want every part of me? But then the Lord blessed us with the loving and wonderful teacher...the Holy spirit to enlighten my pea-size brain.
Consider this, a mother or father has a child in whom they pour out their unending and unconditional love and devotion, wanting nothing but the best for that child, sheltering it, clothing it, feeding it with all great things but then that same cherished child decides, "You know what, I can't be bothered being loved like that...meh, it's not what i want, i want to be disrespected, to cry and to hurt so bad...i want to die." The kid stands up and goes to pursue other things that would never...ever! be able to love and cherish them like the parent who made them. Okay i know what you think, who says "i want to die" right? and who in their right mind would throw away the Love of such a parent!? to you right now you're probably thinking this is ridiculous! If we had a parent who loved us so darn much you'd never leave, so why oh why, is this child pursuing things when the very best is right there waiting for him or her!
But open your eyes and see that this child is you and me, we have Jesus Christ who laid down his life for us! he redeemed us from death and sin and promised us eternal life! Yet what do we do...? We decide like that child above that "Nah, it's not enough." So then we run after other things that end up digging up our very own grave.
Now if you were that parent with the kid, wouldn't you feel jealous that this child you love so much loves other things much, much more than he or she loves you? Once I've seen my mom jealous, my sister and I were gushing over how wonderfully great a mother this christian woman was, and we were totally "ohh and ahhh-ing" at this woman's resourcefulness all the while my mother's face took on a worrisome shade of pink.
not good people, don't do that to your folks. It kind of made me understand that the LORD created us, it says in the Bible;
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book. before one of them came to be.I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well…- Psalm 139:13"Therefore can we not conclude that Jesus Christ is our very TRUE father? none can compare to him but yet in all his glorious majesty we seek to follow the evil step-parent in our story named "The world" despite Christ's bountiful goodness compared to the world's horrendous fickleness we still hop and jump at the world and push aside the Lord. Is it any wonder that the Lord wants out ultimate devotion? its for our own good that he wants this, he isn't oppressive at all!!!
“Come to me,all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30His burden is easy and light! He gives his very all to us who are most undeserving, he even seeks to keep us from trouble by telling us to stay faithful to him, because what he commands us to do is RIGHT while the world promotes lust and other things which is WRONG!
You know right now i have a reason for you to shout out hallelujah! and that reason is that I am NOT God! seriously i stumble over my own two feet and did quiet a few things that made me want to face palm myself, so if i was God and one of my children did that to me i would have given them the wonderful quote of Arnold Schwarzenegger "Hasta la vista baby!" But what does God do:
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. - Luke 15:20-24Yea...not my original reaction, again praise the LORD that i am not God! So i teach little kids at church on some Sunday...i guess its Sunday school but we like to call it "Adventure Kids" learning about Jesus is an adventure! And when we start to teach they all have this wide-eyed eager look to their face and they love to just learn and be with Jesus even praying! Once their parents come they are even more eager to tell them all they learnt, its adorable and it just show that this is how we ought to be, eager, happy and excited about the Gospel! We are literally heralding how awesome our parents are, haven't you ever done the "My mommy or daddy is better than yours, mommy makes cupcakes and daddy wears grey socks..." kind of thing growing up? So sharing the Gospel is telling God that we love him and just kind of saying everyone that My daddy Jesus Christ is so much better than your daddy the world!
Another point that has come to mind is that so many people nowadays say that the Bible is some kind of no-no law book, heaven forbid that there be rules on this earth! They view it as some kind of weapon that seeks to eradicate all joy out of life, but tell me something...growing up, just how many rules did your folks put on you? like wash the dishes after you dirty them, no. do. not. spit on that! or brush your hair! the list is endless! these however was for our own good, i can say with confidence that i wash my dishes, i don't spit on well anything and i brush my hair (maybe...kidding!) these were however for our own good right? i now look presentable going out, thanks mom! We did them also to not get in trouble right, oh the fearsome frown of a parent, or a small spank or a scolding *chills* if i wrote down every rule my mom laid down on me for eighteen years, i would have a billion pages...well that's slightly exaggerated it would be a big book! yet i turned out to be a pretty decent kid if i may say so! Isn't that kind of what God did, he couldn't be in physical form all the time with us, so because he loved us so much he wrote down the things we should and shouldn't do for our own good right? like a guidebook! following it like we have with our earthly parents will lead us in a good and prosperous life! he wants our best. Now if i had to be devoted to anything it'd be Him.
"Thank you Jesus Christ for you bountiful goodness and grace, thank you for the things you teach me even when my questions are silly, i praise you Lord in the morning, noon and night, thank you Jesus for all that you've bestowed in my life. Amen."
God Bless you all,
Emmeline
