Divine Personal Protection
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version read bracketed text]
Later this year I will be turning 23 years old, and I must
admit that it seems like I just turned 20. As a not-so-former-teenager I feel
that I can still relate closely with those who are still in the most confusing
years of their lives. Teenagers. I have a younger sister who is 15 and this next piece of
advice is for her and every other young person who suffers from the heart ache so often found in our relationships today.
I have been blessed through out my life to only ever have suffered minimal
heart ache. Here I am with the secret. I have a Personal Guard for my Heart. I
have asked Jesus to guard my heart for Him alone countless times. He has never abandoned me and will never leave me wanting. He is a jealous God after all. So if
I love Him more than any of His flock I will never have my heart broken.
[When with our
friends and our potential more-than-just-friends we always find a way to share what
we look for in a relationship. We usually outline only some of the good
characteristics we require, but we find time to list every trait we consider to
be “deal-breakers”. As many of us already know, that list can be quite long. So instead of listing them all, I am going to only mention one, Jealousy.
We long for commitment to another person but then require
absolute freedom to do as we please as soon as we enter that commitment. We
don’t want to change any of our habits for that person in order to compromise
with what they might want. And just as soon as they question something we have
done we assume the worst and lash out at them. It’s not like they are some
stranger calling us out for something we may have done wrong. This is someone
who is supposed to care for us and us for them.
Let’s give this a little perspective. We reject the
accountability for our actions due to the conviction we often feel because of
that same accountability. Perhaps that person only wants the best for us. They do
care about us after all. So this jealousy trait we have come to give a
universally bad connotation could have a loving nature behind it? Have we not
been told that we serve a jealous God? But what does that mean? Is God going to
come read all my text messages and quiz me about who I was hanging out with all
day? No, our God is a very different kind of jealous and is jealous for a very
different reason than we are.
We are jealous for ourselves. We want more of someone’s
time, more of everyone’s stuff, and more of the world’s power. However, The
Almighty is not jealous for Himself, He is jealous for us! He wants us to be
satisfied, but not just for the next few days or minutes. He longs for our
eternal satisfaction on His streets of gold! He isn't the jealousy that gets
upset when we go out with our friends and forget to call and talk to Him. He is
the jealousy that is sad we didn't tell Him goodnight, but then forgets all
about it and leaps for joy when we tell Him good morning. (We will discuss prank calls in our next lesson) For it is through our relationship with him we
are eternally satisfied; and our Lord wants what is best for us.]
I encourage you to read John 17. Listen to the possessiveness Jesus places on His Disciples! They belonged to Him! They were not and we are
not of this world because they gave themselves to Him in the same way we are
called to give ourselves to Jesus! So yes
jealousy as we know it is ugly. But my God is jealous for me because He knows
it is up to me to climb the staircase and I can only do so though my time spent
with Him. He placed that first commandment there for each of us. For He is Jealous for me, and by my obedience to Him, He has granted my redemption.
