I just wanted to share a brief testimony about what a blessing I received from the Lord yesterday morning.
During the Sunday school hour, our teacher made a casual statement about a very familiar Bible truth, but for some reason it was as if I was hearing it for the first time. He mentioned that God is a jealous God (okay, we all know that!) and he said “have you ever been jealous, like over your spouse? Well, that’s like how the Lord feels about us". When he made that comment, something struck me and I was overwhelmed at the thought of the Lord being jealous over ME. (Not in a pathetic, feel-sorry-for-Himself kind of way, but in a godly, possessive sort of way.) I thought of the price that He had paid for me and how I belong to Him. Why He purchased me, I'll never know! Anyway, I couldn’t stop thinking about that and tried to imagine the feeling I would have if someone tried to steal away the heart of one of my children. Then I thought of God feeling that way toward me and how it must be when we put other things in front of our relationship with Him. I was filled with the strongest desire to prove my love and loyalty to Him in everything I do.
Then, when our pastor preached his sermon about being sold out for the Lord, it confirmed everything the Lord was already doing in my heart. When he said something like, “people won’t understand - even Christians may not understand”, it strengthened my desire and resolve even more. The people who only want a “token-Christianity” won't understand because they don’t really want to be sold out, they just want to go to church services and activities and other than that, live their lives the way that they want to. They get uncomfortable with your devotion because it brings conviction.
I once heard someone say something like, “People say they’re praying for revival, they say they want revival, but we really don’t. We don’t want to give up our comfortable Christianity for the radical, lay-it-all-on-the-altar-kind-of Christianity.” I believe there is a lot of truth in that statement, but I pray that the Lord will continue a work in MY heart!
May the knowledge of His jealousy over me motivate me to be ever faithful unto death (Rev. 2:20).