| Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire. |
| —Hebrews 12:28-29 |
Have you ever felt jealous? Or, has anyone ever felt jealous about you? Human jealousy is an interesting emotion. It derives from the sin of covetousness. One person wants something, or someone, that another person possess, or that they fear another person might take away from them.
In a modern junior high school, now known generally as middle school, some of the most violent fights occur between two females who want to be the girlfriend of the same male. Of course, the guys love this. Most teenage males revel in this kind of attention, strutting around school like peacocks. The very idea that two females might want them nearly creates a hormone overload. And, it should be noted that the jealous war between two teenage females has a gut-wrenching violence to it that stuns we older folks.
We think of jealousy as a generally bad emotion. Yet, there is something to be said for the positive side of jealousy. There are circumatances where a strong bond of love promotes an exclusivity in a relationship that sets up an impenetrable boundary around each person in that relationship. A husband may feel justifiably jealous, if his wife seems to dote on, or flirts with, some other male. Likewise, a wife may feel justifiably jealous, if her husband seems to have an “office wife” with whom he communicates far too often—even when he’s not at work. This positive kind of jealousy should promote a time for the love-bonded parties to sit down and have a calm, rational discussion about their marriage vows and their responsibility to each other.
One of the beautiful passages in the traditional marriage vows is the phrase:
“Will you love her (him), comfort her (him), honor, and keep her (him) in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her (him), so long as you both shall live?”
The whole idea in marriage of keeping yourself only unto your spouse is of paramount importance in this mysterious love-bond that the Apostle Paul indicates mirrors the relationship between Christ and His Church.
The Ten Commandments given to the children of Israel in Exodus 20, clearly state that God expects His children to have no other god in front of Him, or in place of Him. That’s the kind of love-bonded covenantal responsibility that we have toward this God who first loved us. The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes this covenant in the words found in Hebrews 12:28-29:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
In verse 29, the last phrase in the Scripture passage above, the writer of Hebrews quotes Deuteronomy 4:24. In fact, Moses, speaking to the children of Israel that he has led out of captivity in Egypt, declares in Deuteronomy 4:21-24:
The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance. I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land. Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
The holiness of God does not tolerate the worship of any other substitute god. For whether that substitute god consists of one’s political ideology, one’s reputation, one’s work, one’s leisure activities, one’s house, car, or boat, or even one’s family or friends, nothing must substitute for the worship of the one and only true God.
As we begin a new day, let’s make certain that we only worship the God who loves us with His eternal love—the God who forgave our sins, because of His Son’s sacrifice on the cross in our behalf. That God, and He alone, is worthy of our worship, our devotion, our commitment, and our love. Let us not put anyone, or anything, in front of Him.
