Tag: godly jealousy

12.5 Moses 12, Day 5

God’s Jealousy

We often confuse jealousy and coveting and treat them as the same thing.  They are not.  Both have to do with being in possession of something.  Coveting is wanting to take possession of something that belongs to someone else.  Jealousy is wanting to retain possession of things that rightly belong to you but are at threat of being taken away.

Coveting is a sin.  It violates the 10 commandments.  Righteous jealousy is not a sin.

I use the term righteous jealousy because it assumes the item for which you are jealous rightly belongs to you.  If you are in possession of something that rightly belongs to someone else, then desiring to retain possession of it isn’t jealousy, it is coveting and theft.

All of this is based on the item being held as valuable.  No one, in their right mind, would covet or be jealous of a rock.  It is immaterial, without value.  But if the rock is a gemstone, then that changes.

And there in lies the precious gift of God’s jealousy for us.  Everything belongs to God.  He created the entire universe.  All matter, anti-matter, time and space belong to God.  But God looks at you and me, a collection of molecules and synapses, carbon and water, and He sees a precious gemstone.  Every soul born as a human belonged to God before life entered their cells, even the free will that enables us to choose to turn away from God is from God, and He is jealous for us.

What an amazing blessing.  You are a thing of beauty, of great wealth, precious, desired, something that God, who has everything, wants to possess because you rightly belong to Him.  God is jealous for you!  That should make your face shine with some radiance!

Write that fact on your mirror and look at it in the morning!

 

My Answers:

10.
a.
They had been forgiven for their wickedness and for breaking their covenant and commitment to do everything God had commanded

b.
I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.

c.
Through the children I have helped teach.  Through their ministry.

11.
a.
“A strong feeling of possessiveness, often caused by the possibility that something which belongs, or ought to belong, to one is about to be taken away.”  Everything belongs to God, help comes from Him alone

b.
All of this is a prophecy and foreshadowing of the sins they would be tempted to commit in the future.

12.
a.
He was with God

b.
Because he had spoken with the Lord

c.
my face, heart and hands, my voice. my writing and actions all reflect God’s glory – (still a work in progress)

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Acts: Week 21, Day 3: 2 Corinthians 10:1–11:15

Questions:

6. a. Luke 4, Jesus uses scripture to combat temptation by satan in the desert. Luke 22:32, Simon sifted like wheat, “I have prayed for you” Luke 22:44 “being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling”

b. Prayer saved me during a time of very dark fear in the hospital.  I had come out of heart surgery and my first night awake, the patients who had the same surgery on both sides of my room coded and died.  I remember reciting every prayer I could think of, including the Hail Mary which for a born and raised Lutheran was quite the feat.  As I have grown in God’s Word it has enabled me to teach and train others, particularly the young both in BSF, home and through other teaching and coaching.

7. a. Masquerading as an angel of light, as apostles of Christ. false and deceitful workmen. Masquerade as servants of righteousness.

b. cunning. lies, masquerades. the devil prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour

8. a. Luke 4:1–2, 13: Jesus was tempted by devil in the desert

b. Luke 13:16: Jesus recognized Satan bound woman for 18 years

c. Luke 22:3: Satan entered Judas

d. Luke 22:31–32: Satan asked to sift Simon

e. John 8:44: Satan is a murderer and the father of lies – his native tongue

f. John 12:31; 14:30: judgment: prince of this world driven out

g. Revelation 12:9–11: the great dragon, accuser

h. Revelation 20:2: seized the dragon, satan, bound him for 1000 years

9. worldly jealousy is to covet what others possess. Godly jealously is to rightly desire what belongs to God and protect and preserve it as such.

 

End-Thoughts:

If you were Satan think about how you would do it.  First, you would do everything you could to make the thought of satan either be childish or weird.  Some made up tale.  It is much better to work covertly, than to have people understand that you are a real threat.  You would then get inside the church.  Work your way into church leadership where possible.  Be a false teacher that quotes from the bible, but, again, make the tough parts sound so silly and outdated. 

You would work your way up from the bottom of the commandment list.  You wouldn’t start with golden calves (although there are plenty to go around).  But coveting, that is way down on the list, start there. 

Don’t be fooled.  Satan is absolutely real as are his servants.  Christ recognized Satan as a real entity one who he interacted with and one who interacts directly with God.  That does make him on par with God, but it does make him real and an inhabitant of the spiritual realm.