Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the Dave Crowder Band singing… How He Loves Us, … declaring how jealous is God’s love for those who’ve come to Him in repentance and love.
Highlight Passage: 2nd Corinthians 11: 1-2 [NKJV] …
1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
… Being protective of our love for our Savior just as He is jealous in His love of us.
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Highlight Context – 2nd Corinthians 11: 1-4 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Oh, how we need to be jealous of our love for our Bridegroom just as our God is jealous and protective of His love for His foundlings.
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Reference Passage #1 - Exodus 20:3-5, 34:14 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… We should strive to be jealous of our love for God because He is so jealous of His love for His children.
Reference Passage #2 - Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Again, … doing all we can to honor God’s jealous love for His own.
Reference Passage #3 - John 14: 21 [NKJV] …
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
… Our love should be guarded and shown through our obedience to His word.
Reference Passage #4 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
… Jesus lays out His criteria for discipleship, which declares clearly just how protective we should be of our love by denying self and following the Savior.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Mart DeHaan, used an interesting illustration to teach about God’s jealousy for His children. He writes, In 2014 a University of California researcher used a stuffed dog to show that animals are capable of jealousy. Professor Christine Harris asked dog owners to show affection for a stuffed animal in the presence of their pet. She found that three-fourths of the dogs responded with apparent envy. Some tried to get attention with touch or a gentle nudge. Others tried to push between their owner and the toy. A few went so far as to snap at their stuffed rival. … In a dog, jealousy seems heartwarming. In people, it can lead to less admirable results. Yet, as Moses and Paul remind us [see Scriptures above], there is also another jealousy — one that beautifully reflects the heart of God.
In human terms, “jealousy” is generally denoted to be a negative character quality. But God clearly states in the Old Testament that He is a “jealous” God, Who loves His children so much that He protects us with His love. A dog may reflexively try to protect his affection for his/her master [see attached photo]; but we, as God’s children, need to do all we can to jealously protect the closeness of our relationship with THE ONE Who has saved us, … our Lord, … King Jesus.
And really Jesus, Himself, laid out the way we can do this, i.e., to protect and demonstrate our love for Him (see John 14:21); and that is by doing all we can to deny our selfishness and to follow Him as closely as we can (see Luke 9: 23). So, today, let’s establish or renew our vows to do all we can to jealously pursue a deeper, more abiding love relationship with our Savior.
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, Jesus! … Thank You for Your jealous love; and help me to protect and show my love for You. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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