Listening in on teen conversations is not one of the things that make me want to turn back the hands of time! If you pay attention to the entries in their social networks, you see everything from mushy teenage love to saying terrible things to one another or deleting a friend to show their disapproval or anger. One thing that is very apparent is that they have a lot of jealousy! Have you ever heard of “the green-eyed monster”? In case you have not (what, you were raised on a Planet?) that is how we humans refer to someone who is jealous. This title comes from a song I have heard Dolly Parton sing, (I love her sweet voice) and I have to admit, I tend to have a jealous heart.
Song of Solomon 8:6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy is as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. The KJV says,” for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave:” It is one emotion that can cause people to do terrible things, even murder.
Is there a good jealousy? I think there is. I think that you must have a jealousy over your life, your family in order to keep that close eye on what is happening around you, to keep it safe! I think that sometimes when a partner shows no jealousy at all, it simply appears that they don’t really care. I am not recommending that mean-spirited jealousy that doesn’t want you to speak to anyone of the opposite sex, but just letting your partner know that you care too much to let someone interfere in your relationship.
We need to guard our spiritual life as jealously as we guard our loved ones. When we let things slip in that take our attention away from serving God with our whole heart, guess what…HE gets jealous of us! Proof is found in ten different places in the Bible, I will give you two: Exodus 34:14 Don’t worship any other god. God—his name is The-Jealous-One—is a jealous God. Be careful that you don’t make a covenant with the people who live in the land and take up with their sex-and-religion life, join them in meals at their altars, marry your sons to their women, women who take up with any convenient god or goddess and will get your sons to do the same thing. Deuteronomy 4:24 The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God. What about these people who are trying to make our ONE GOD JEHOVAH and our Savior JESUS CHRIST one of several ways to get to “Paradise”, Heaven!
The same way that you are jealous over your partner or family, God is jealous over you! He loved you so much that He sent Jesus as our personal savior. 1John 3:1 What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it–we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or takes us seriously, because it has no idea who He is or what He’s up to.
He loves us, so what do we do for Him? First of all we need to return that love to Him! Having nothing more important than worshiping Him, not letting things stop us or divert our attention to other “ways”, and then we have to love each other, because God IS love and if we are to be like Him, then we have to love each other, whether we want to or not! I know there are some that are just un-likable, but we can love them with the love of the Lord!
Be blessed, pray, guard your family and relationships with a Godly jealousy and most importantly, accept the love of this wonderful and Jealous God!
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