He is jealous for me

Sometimes I like to just think about one of God’s attributes. For some reason, today, the fact that God is jealous has been sitting in my head and I have been pondering exactly what that means.

The first place my thoughts go is to the kind of jealousy we usually talk about. “I am so jealous of how she looks in that dress.” “I am jealous of the way she can sing.” Obviously these sound like they fall under the category of coveting. Those things don’t rightfully belong to me, so being jealous is actually a sin. I also think this type of jealousy is a sign of weakness. If I am jealous, I am not happy with what I have. And it seems like such an uncontrollable, emotional response.

Sooooo, how on earth, based on these thoughts, can God be jealous? He can’t covet because He doesn’t sin. There is nothing that doesn’t rightfully belong to Him anyway. And the hardest part for me is how can God have what I kind of view as a weak uncontrollable, emotional response?

I decided to go look at a bunch of verses that deal with jealousy. Most of them relating to God’s jealousy occur in the Old Testament. I was reminded that we can’t view God’s attributes through our own experiences. God’s jealousy for us is something different altogether.

“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Deut 4:24.

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God am a jealous God.” Exodus 20:5

All of our worship (our time, our devotion, our praise, our everything) belongs to God and only God. It is rightfully His. Jealousy therefore becomes an acceptable response when our worship goes to something else.

If I accept the idea that jealousy is the appropriate response to my actions (and who am I to say how God should respond anyway?), then I start to be extremely thankful that a God who knows all about all the crap in my life...all my faults and thoughts and screw-ups....is still jealous when I turn to things or people other than Him. How cool is THAT!?! Even in the midst of me being consumed with material things or a pan of brownies or any other thing that is not Him, his reaction is still one of love and care and never giving up! He is jealous for me!

HE is jealous for me. (God....the creator of everything!)

He IS jealous for me. (Right now!)

He is JEALOUS for me. (He cares and loves me THAT much!)

He is jealous for ME. (Beth....who sins every hour of every day)

Read that sentence and emphasize and think about each word separately. This is such an amazing concept and I don’t think I fully appreciate it. God was SO jealous, that he was willing to sacrifice his Son, to bring us back to Himself! That is crazy jealous.

And to think there are so many other attributes of God to study and ponder. And I am betting that each and every one will lead to the same response. Pure worship of the One and Only.

Here for the party!

I am so excited!! This Sunday is my hands-down favorite event in the life of our church. I LOVE BAPTISMS! I am trying to think of any conflicting event that would prevent me from attending and can’t really come up with anything.

If you are part of our church and have never attended one, you don’t know what you are missing. It is not some stuffy old ritualistic ceremony that we do just because it is what churches have always done. It is a celebration of the most amazing transformation in a person’s life. People are going to hell. God intervenes. People make a choice to follow Him and will now spend eternity with Him. That is a reason to hoot and holler and cheer if ever there was one! Buckeyes score (well last season, anyway) and the crowd goes wild. That is a dumb touchdown. This is eternity with our Creator!!! If you aren’t moved to respond, I’m not sure you get it.

I’ve had many proud mom moments along the way...but none of them even come close to the joy I felt and the celebration in my soul when my kids made the “adult” decision to accept Christ and then to publicly share their commitment through baptism. That’s my immediate family. I get just as excited watching my Grace family! Those are my brothers and sisters.....FOREVER!

If you haven’t ever been to a Grace Fellowship baptism, I challenge you to join us this Sunday evening. It may not be The Shoe on a Saturday afternoon, but people will be cheering. It may not be our church building on a Sunday morning, but people will be passionately worshiping.

Your kid might have a game that night...your favorite show might be on tv....you might have a busy day and just not want to drive over to Broad Street. It’s all a choice, my friends. But I hope you choose to come to the party!

No Joke. It's War.

War: a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism; a struggle or competition between opposing forces or for a particular end. (Merriam-Webster)

Can someone be engaged in a war and not even know it? Or more specifically, can CHILDREN be engaged in a war every day and their parents are totally oblivious? They absolutely can! My kids are, and many of your kids are too.

I have a confession. I am a snoop. I am on Twitter and Facebook most every day. I am friends with (FB) and follow (Twitter) many of my girls’ friends. Yeah, they are not always crazy about it. But if people are going to throw things out on the World Wide Web (emphasis on the world-wide), (1) I don’t think I am invading anyone’s privacy, and (2) aren’t we supposed to love and protect our children the best we can?

As a parent, I have control over where my kids spend their free time. And for the most part, I have control over who they spend time with. I can keep them from seeing certain movies and going to parties where I think inappropriate things will be happening. I can say no to “time alone” dates and I can set curfews. And we do all of these things to some extent. But....we cannot insulate our kids in a bubble and the world they live in at school and on-line and elsewhere is nothing short of a war. I feel like my kids’ circle of friends is gradually shrinking (mostly by their good judgment) because of what so many kids are doing.

When I was in school, there was a small group who lived “on the wild side.” Drugs, drinking, sex....but they were looked down on by the VAST majority. I am convinced that somewhere in the last 20 years, this has flipped. Kids who do these things are everywhere and their activities are celebrated around the lunch table on Monday. Walk through the hallways at class change time at the high school and you will be shocked at the language you hear all around you! Look up kids on Twitter and see what they are saying. I am amazed how many parents do not follow their kids on social media sites! You simply need to go as far as a Friday night football game to observe the current teen culture and just how far things have gotten.

My point is this: If parents became aware of the war that is going on every single day, and the things that are fighting for our kids’ hearts, they would engage in the battle and arm our children (yes, a 16 or 17 year old is still a child). There is hope! And I am not even going to take the God argument (I know, surprised aren’t you?) this time. I believe that most parents, Christian or non-Christian, would parent differently if they were aware of what is going on.

Come on! Wake up.....get involved....don’t assume high school is the same as when we were there....snoop a little....talk to your kids---they will tell you. Above all, be a parent and do everything within your power (and then some!) to launch a well-grounded, responsible, confident, adult into the world. Again, Come on!!