He Is Jealous For Me

How He Loves

"He is jealous for me..."  At first glance this is a pretty strange thing to say about God. The word "jealous" is usually associated with something bad, a form of weakness or an overbearing personality. But in this sense it is a calling... a commandment. Our God is calling upon us to focus on Him. Can you hear Him? He wants us to come to Him, to stand before Him and offer our selves. We are not here to simply enjoy our worldly lives, but to live life to the fullest by accepting everything God has offered... and to do that means giving up what we often think is important.

We spend our lives focused on that which we can purchase, sell, manipulate, create, touch, smell, taste or see. We think that one hour a week is our servitude for Christ, our penance, our required church time. But God wants more. Don't get me wrong - entry into heaven is easy, believe in Christ and accept His grace. So what is with this whole jealousy thing? We believe, we go to church... isn't that enough? No. It is about experiencing God, experiencing salvation NOW... peace on earth... joy to the world. God is jealous not because He wants more people to love and serve Him, but because He wants us to experience EVERYTHING He has to offer RIGHT NOW! Most of us, including myself, have never come close to God's full experience because we cannot shut this world off. We live in an age that is designed to satisfy every need, every impulse, every sensory organ every second of the day. For a gadget freak like myself, this is a tough thing to overcome.

What happens when one spouse is fully devoted and in love, and the other spouse spends 90% of their time on work, hobbies or other people? More often than not, divorce. Both spouses, the devoted and the departed, lose track of the other... they forget how to talk to each other, they become uncomfortable in each others presence. Now think about your relationship with Jesus Christ - were He to make Himself known to you in this moment just to have a conversation, would you be uncomfortable in His presence? On that same note, are you uncomfortable in church? Do you know how to enter into God's presence during worship, or are you wondering what the people around you think? This Sunday I challenge each of you to forget about your self, forget about what other people may think and WORSHIP GOD! Offer everything you have, it is what He commands. I promise, you will be rewarded far beyond anything you can comprehend. And these rewards are not someday... they are now.