Keeping God First

August 10, 2022
Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:7, Exodus 34:14

Question; When is being jealous a good thing? I’ve heard stories of young couples that experienced times when their relationship seemed to be waning and attempted to make each other jealous just to test if their relationship was worth the effort. I’m not convinced that would be a good thing. I’ve also experienced times when I was jealous that some other beauty caught my sweetheart’s eye. I remember when Mark and I were dating and were stationed together at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. There wasn’t much to do on base for dating couples, so we spent some evenings at the gym playing racquetball. One day as we were walking along, I noticed that a pretty young lady was leaving the gym and Mark turned his head to get a second look. Well, I just came alongside him and bluntly asked; “What does she have that I don’t twice as much of”? He answered straight away; “absolutely nothing”. Still, that type of jealousy wasn’t good for either of us.

The Bible tells us in Exodus 34:14; “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”. One translation puts it this way; “Never worship any other god, because the Lord is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals”. Question, as Ron Mehl puts it; “Why in the world does he [God] make such a point of having no other gods before Him? What does this first command have to do with life in today’s world? The reason is simple: He wants to be your God. He wants to care for you, and He knows that no one or nothing can care for you better than He. He is a faithful God, committed to us even when we fail, even when we make mistakes. He loves us, and He will never say, ‘I’m done with you. I am going to turn to someone else that I care about more than you’” (pg. 45 The Ten(der) Commandments).

A Pastor friend of mine puts it this way; “God loves me best”, and I agree, because after all, who could love me better? Keeping God first not only changes the way you live, but it impacts the way other people live. In our world today, people are more confused than ever and are in desperate need to know that God loves them best. When we catch hold of that, we can change the world.

AMEN