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Detested Jealousy
I want to call in sick, use my get out of jail free card or whatever the proper etiquette is to get out of blogville this week. Truth be told, Luke 14 makes me squirm. A lot. Take verse 26 for example. A large crowd is traveling with Jesus, when suddenly Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” What? Hate your parents? Despise your spouse and children? What happened to Mark 12:36, which says that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself?
The Contemporary English Version (CEV) sheds some light on this troublesome passage: “You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.” More than. Jesus isn’t asking me to detest my family. Rather, I must make sure my love for God is always greater than my love for anyone or anything else.
“Jealous” is used 28 times in the NIV. It is God who is jealous in 18 of those verses.
Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14
I’m sure my English teacher would have marked down for a sentence like that, with it being overly emphatic that God is both a jealous God and is named Jealous. Perhaps it is God’s jealousy—His utmost desire that we serve Him and Him alone—that prompted Jesus to say we must love him more than anyone else.
I’m still squirming, though. It is a very tough verse to live out, at least for me. If I truly laid down my life and loved God more than anyone else, would it come at the price of those I love most? Or would I somehow discover a joy and a freedom I’ve been too fearful to fully embrace?
I (Jesus) came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. John 10:10, CEV
I won’t call in sick on this post, but I’ll do the next best thing and toss it back to you. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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4 Comments to “Detested Jealousy”
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Kerri says:
This is my first post. Yeah! I thought I would try my hand at writing a little and see how it feels.
You are right on the difficulty of living this verse out. Our day to day living is drastically different than those who were living in Jesus’s time, yet humanity has loved family equally from the beginning. I can more easily grab onto the idea of loving God more than my husband or my extended family and even myself at times. It is the call to love him more than my children that I struggle with. My whole day to day life is poured into them and I can guarantee I wouldn’t hand them over to be sacrificed like Abraham did with Isaac. Thankfully, God would never ask us to literally lay our child on a rock to face sacrifice but we are asked at some point to let that child go into Gods hands – yes, even if it means our worst fears might come true. As I raise teenagers, I am faced with this reality almost daily. Do I trust you Lord with my child driving, hanging out with kids I dont know, dating, surfing the internet, getting a job, going off to college? What if they use drugs, drop out of school, get in a car accident, break the law or become a victim of a violent crime? Do I trust you Lord? Can I quit playing God and let go as the occassion arises a little bit at a time?
Is my identity tied up in their success or failures or is it tied to who I am in you? What if they dont make the football team or the honor roll or they struggle to make friends?
Any way, you get the point. Loving God first means I must trust him and obey him where my kids are concerned. Not always an easy thing to do.
Stacy says:
Kerri, I so understand about it being the hardest to not love my children more than God. You hit it right on the head that we need to learn to release them into God’s hands–something that is easier said than done!
Thanks for sharing. I love your input!
Patti Teats says:
The word that came to mind when I read your post is the word IDOL. Because God is a jealous God He opposes anything or anyone that becomes more important than Him and controls our life. Another word is obsession. What? Who? are we obsessed with that takes our focus away from Him? I agree this is a very difficult passage. Thanks for your honesty and your thoughts. Patti
Stacy says:
Patti, thanks for sharing. “Idol” makes me think of Exodus 32:22-24, where Moses is asking Aaron what caused him to help create the golden calf. “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
While his response is appalling at first glance, I think it also demonstrates the way we can easily chase an idol and not even realize it.