Article for March 3, 2024
Exodus 20:5–6 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
There is good jealousy and bad jealousy. Bad jealousy is when we do not trust the ones we love, and we are insecure with ourselves. Good jealousy is when we show our love through protecting the one, we love without smothering them. God is jealous for you and does not want to lose you to anything that will take you away from His love. God does not want to lose you to false beliefs that will ultimately harm you. God truly wants you living an eternal life and having an eternal relationship with Him, the one true God. God’s jealousy is because He loves you dearly.
We hold what we have on earth to be of greater value to us then God. We even hold what we think we can do on our own to be more important than putting our faith in God. These are beliefs that fuels God’s jealousy. Everything we worship, that in itself, takes you away from worshiping the one who loves you triggers God’s jealousy. We have a God who is willing to fight for us as He was willing to allow His son to die for us.
1 Corinthians 1:20–25 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Do we think, with all our education, intelligence, and skill that we don’t need to put our faith in God? We should realize, all our intelligence, skills, and crafting are gifts given to us by God. With all our God given brilliancy you would think we could accomplish everything and giving God the glory for it.
This is where we depend on God, this is the time to take that leap of faith knowing God will guide us. This is when we should praise and thank God through our given talents. This is how God grows His kingdom of heaven and earth through the gifts He gives us. Now is the time to take that leap of faith, and not fearing anything in the presence of God. For what we do, we do for the glory of God and therefore we will never fail.
Abraham did not question God’s commands, He acted upon faith, and faith saved his son Isaac. Faith made Abraham the father of all nations. Faith brought Abraham and his people out of their comfort of Ur and set them on the path to the Promised Land. And it is faith that led the apostles to spread God’s word after Christ died, rose, and then ascended to God’s right hand.
1 Corinthians 1:18 18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Are we those who are perishing or are we those who are being saved. For those who are not being saved, they are blinded by the wisdom they think they achieved on their own. But don’t be fooled for even those who realize their wisdom comes from God can be blinded.
Many by their idea that they don’t need God to use their God given gifts to not see the wisdom of God giving them gifts. It is the humble that use the wisdom of God and give credit and glory to God for the use of His wisdom. God’s wisdom comes from His word and is dispersed through His Holy Spirit.
If you don’t know God’s word or just think you know it, then you do not have the wisdom of God. It doesn’t take our high education, or our great skills to accomplish that which is most important to the growth of God’s kingdom. But the word of God brings the wisdom of God in everything. Through the humbleness of faith in God even the smallest and weakest are able to move the mountains that get in the way of growing God’s kingdom.
1 Corinthians 1:26–29 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God
God has chosen us not because we are smart and have great educations, but because He loves us and wants us to succeed as He uses us to build His kingdom. God has chosen us not because we are a big church, or because we are small. He chose us so that we will need to put our faith in Him.
God did choose us because we have all the right things in place to grow His kingdom, but to show us that He will lead us through the tasks He set before us. God has not chosen us because we have a purpose, but because He has a purpose to work through us.
It is not our righteousness that God chose us, for we have none without Christ. It is however, that God chose us out of His love for us, no matter our sin, our weakness, or our depravity no matter our education, skills or craft. God chose us out of His love for us, and through love He is saving us for His delight in having us as His children through our Lord.
It took only one man to destroy a creation and turn it upside down, Adam. It took only one man to save the creation and show us that it is not the world we need but the eternal life and relationship with God, Jesus Christ, we should want. Even Christ took a leap of faith in that His Father commanded Him to suffer humility, pain, and die on a cross.
Christ did it having faith that He would be raised again from death, and that He would also ascend into everlasting life. And it is in faith that Christ dyeing for our sins would cause us to be saved also into that eternal life and relationship with Him. And it is in faith that Christ working with and through the Holy Spirit would bring us faith and belief so that we can and will be saved through the glory of God. It is the wisdom of God to save those who are the sinners of this world.
1 Corinthians 1:30–31 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Truly we do this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Written by Pastor Curtis A. May