Monday, August 25, 2008

Our God is Jealous?

Oprah said she searched for a new religion when she heard our God was a "jealous God" in church one Sunday. I have wondered...how is it that My perfect God is jealous? I am doing Beth Moore's Breaking Free study where Beth explores that topic and I thought I would share.

Exodus 20:5 says, "...for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods." Now when we hear the word jealous we think of it in a negative way; we see being jealous as a sin (coveting what your neighbor has). Beth then leads into the verse 1 Corinthians 11:2-3 "For I am jealous FOR you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure pride to one husband- Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent." The difference in our sinful jealousy and a Godly jealousy is all in a simple three letter word FOR. God is jealous FOR us, not OF us...He wants all of our attention and love, not because he needs it, but because He knows when we put other things before Him we are always left feeling empty and not satisfied. Beth compares this jealousy to a mother trying to get her daughter out of a dangerous gang/cult. She is jealous for her daughter not of her. This was just a great revelation to me.

***One side note- Have you heard Kelly Pickler's new song "You Are Beautiful" If not I highly recommend it, especially the video. It is targeted to young girls telling them how beautiful they are regardless of what they are wearing or what base they will allow boys to go to. YOU GO KELLY!!!

***Another note- A dear friend of mine, Mama JuJu, just gave me a GREAT book called = The Prayers that Avail Much! I am reading/using it and it is very powerful.

***Last thing - I am rereading the book The Jesus I Never Knew - this book has changed my life. I will do a book review soon but I wanted to read it twice so I could do the book justice. I have always loved Jesus because he died for me, but after reading this book I now can say I love Jesus for who He was and is...his personality. I highly recommend it!

2 comments:

allie nelson said...

my Mimi gave me a copy of "Prayers That Avail Much" and it is powerful!! great, wonderful inspiring prayers.....there is something on every topic.

enjoyed your post!

Charla (SHar-la) said...

Funny thing...that book, Prayers That Avail Much...Kasha gave me that book on my walk, but said it was "borrowed" so I couldn't keep it. So, I copied what I wanted out of it and gave it back. I wrote it on a list I wanted to buy. I loved it! So glad you have a copy now! The prayer I copied was about having children.

 

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