“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.” (Deut. 4.24)

“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything . . . . You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God . . . . ” (Duet. 5:7-9)

Jealousy, most times, is thought of in the negative and destructive sense. Jealousy can be described as demand for someone’s exclusive affection, attention or loyalty. Or it can be said of someone when they are suspicious or fearful of a potential rival. Or the feeling one person gets when the ‘lover’ is thought to be unfaithful.

Scripture tells us that God is a jealous God. Why is He a jealous God?

Because as it says in Ephesians (2:4) that God loves us with a great love. A little later in Ephesians, Paul prays that that his readers would be able to comprehend the breath, the length, the height and the depth of His love (3.18,19).

His love for us knows no limits . . . He goes to great lengths to show us how much He loves us ~ this is the very reason Christ went to the Cross.  God deeply desires and rightly commands us to not put (i.e., LOVE) anyone or anything above or before Him. He does want our exclusive affection. His love is a positive and constructive.

It is a Jealous Love.

God is not fearful of rivals . . . in fact, He knows US so well that He well aware of the fact that we will be unfaithful and we will love other things and other people more than Him. BUT . . . He still loves us and is still jealous for us.

I’m thinking that possibly . . . many of you have seen the movie, The Notebook, yes? Do you remember the part in the movie where Noah says to Allie ~ “I want you . . I want all of you. . . Forever”?? (ok, may be a bad example, but it just came to me and I love a good love story) . . . A very human example . .  .but a tangible one.

God says . . . “I want you! I want all of you! and I want you Forever!” No other love is greater to Him . . then the one He has for us . . and the one He wants in return from us.

We have a choice. What will you choose?

For His Glory,