It’s pretty obvious that we need a different way of life. Ours isn’t turning out so well.
What if we were to go back to Jesus’ time here on this earth and see what He said – In Matthew 22: 35-40 – “One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
I know it…you don’t even have to say it. Chuck, I’ve heard it all my life, but I love God and I love others. Okay, then take a moment and measure yourself on this scale…Remembering that Jesus said in John’s Gospel, If you love Me, you’ll obey Me.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how are you doing in the Love God category and the Love others category? Ouch – this measuring stick isn’t comparing you to somebody else. If we are to truly find a better way of life, we SIMPLY MUST get the LOVE GOD part right…and when we do…the LOVE OTHERS comes so much easier.
If we love God with all our heart, will we display a critical spirit? Will we find pettiness and rigidity a natural part of our life? Will we allow hatred and racism to remain in our spheres of influence? Will we find fault with anything that isn’t all about us and live a self-serving life? OR…
Will we determine to encourage and love and listen to those that we once were critical of? Extend grace and mercy, flexibility and forgiveness in our daily lives? Will we see and serve others as opposed to looking past them with disinterest or bigotry? Will we offer love and a spirit of gratitude as opposed to making everything about us?
This is what it looks like when we GET GOD RIGHT – we’ll get our relationship right with Jesus, which allows us to display Him through us as opposed to revealing the opposite of HIM – US.
NOW – Would those that know you best, agree or post a different number based on their view of your life? I mean if they could see your calendar, your checkbook, your gps tracked path this past week?
It’s worth taking a tough look at my life and you might discover the same in your life!
—AChuck
Frankly, My Dear…by Jody Vickery
Names are kind of a big deal. You want people to remember yours, pronounce it correctly and spell it right. No one likes to be called names. And we protect our names – our reputations. Even so, for most westerners, a name is not really much more than a label. My guess is your parents did not know what your name meant when they gave it to you. But in ancient times, a name was more than just a handle; it revealed the character, personality, even the destiny of a person. And when a person’s status, character or destiny changed, so did their name. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. Simon became Peter. Saul, Paul.
The Names of God
That’s why the names of God – and there are many – are so important. They reveal something to us about his nature. Most of the names of God we find in Scripture evoke warm, positive feelings.
El Roi (Gen. 16:13), for example, means the God who sees me. Who wouldn’t want a loving God watching over them night and day? By the way, that’s the only time in scripture that a human gave God a name. And it was given to him by an enslaved Egyptian surrogate-mother sister-wife who had been kicked out by her jealous rival.
In times of scarcity and want, knowing that one of God’s names is Jehovah Jireh (Gen. 22:14), the God who Provides, is a comforting thought.
With all the violence in the world, it’s good to know that Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:24), the God of Peace, is present.
There’s Jehovah Rapha (Ex. 15:26), the Lord who Heals. Jehovah Raah (Ps. 23:1), the Lord is my Shepherd. And El Qanna (Ex. 34:14), God the Jealous.
Wait . . . what? God’s name is Jealous? But jealousy is bad, right? In Galatians 5, Paul said it was an obvious act of the sinful nature. Jealousy was the beginning of Saul’s slide into insanity. It made Cain kill Abel. David commits adultery. How can God be good and jealous?
It Helps to Know the Story
Some scene setting will help. In Exodus 34, God has to reissue the Ten Commandments. Moses broke the first set when he came down from the mountain to discover the Israelites having dinner on the grounds after attending a worship service at Our Lady of the Golden Calf Pagan Praise Cathedral (Ex. 32:1 – 6). So basically, Israel had been unfaithful to God on their wedding day. But God still wanted to enter into this covenant. You’ve heard, maybe, that the God of the Old Testament didn’t do grace? Wrong.
But before God slips the ring on Israel’s faithless finger, he declares his intentions. He’s going to be a faithful husband. In Ex. 34:6, he vows to be compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. In verses 10 & 11, he promises to do wonders, awesome works and to drive out those who occupy the Promised Land he is giving to his bride. Then, after all that, he says, “You can call me Jealous.”
In other words, “This relationship matters to me. I am going to be faithful to you. I expect you to be faithful to me.”
So what’s the takeaway? Two things.
God is a Personal God
He’s not merely an anonymous force. Deism is the belief that while there is a supreme being in the universe, it is not interested in, involved in or interacting with people and events on Earth. An impersonal force will never be jealous. It does not care what you do or, for that matter, what is done to you. That is not the God the Bible reveals. While God does not need anything from us (Psalm 50:12; Acts 17:25), he still wants to be in a relationship with us.
You are Wanted
Would you mind if the social media profile page of your spouse or significant other featured picture of them wrapped up in the embrace of a previous love? If you missed two weeks of work and your boss didn’t notice, what would you conclude about your value to the company? If your parents don’t care who you are with, where you are or when you are coming home, what does that say about how they feel about you?
In each instance, you and I would feel unwanted, unloved and disrespected. So why does God’s jealousy give us heartburn? The opposite of jealousy is indifference. And indifference is what Rhett Butler communicated to Scarlet O’Hara the last time he walked out of Tara. In her own, self-centered way, she wanted to know if Rhett cared about her.
His reply? “Frankly, my dear, I don’t . . . .”
God’s jealousy offers a different answer: “Frankly, my child, I do . . . .”
See You Tomorrow at Sugar Hill Church! Services at 9:30 and 11:00 and Streaming Live on Facebook, the Sugar Hill Church APP and live.sugarhill.church
–AChuck