Jealous for us

“Can  I look on your phone again, mom?” my four year old begged for the third time as he smiled sweetly. I had just rounded up my boys for some chores that needed to be done outside, but something had my little guys attention and he could not focus on the fun of watering our flowers. “Sure, son, just one more look”, I said as I handed him my Iphone.  Earlier in the week he had showed me the lego toy he wanted for his birthday. On the following day he saw it again in a store and while there, I took a picture of the box with my phone so I wouldn’t forget what he wanted. Well, I did not need to be concerned about that because the following day as I showed him the picture on my phone, he couldn’t put it down for anything or talk about anything but the toy he wanted. The desire for it had him.

"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below."Ex 20:3-4 (NIV)

It happens to all of us and so very quickly, my son only saw this thing three different times, yet with repeated visual reinforcement, on my phone, he couldn’t think of anything else and it made him miserable. Completely unable to enjoy anything else that entire day.

What about us? Things that preoccupy us are a lot more subtle. Are you in an especially difficult season and just dreaming about it ending so you can finally breathe?  Are you constantly thinking about future plans God has revealed he has for your family and it’s keeping you from enjoying God today? The enemy doesn’t care what holds our attention, as long as it’s not God himself at the moment and for this day. Even godly and good things can rob us of God’s presence in the moment, like desiring the salvation of a loved one or wanting our spouse to have a greater love for God. All good things to pray for but if our devotion to God stops until we get that, we have put something in front of God.

The bible says that each day has enough trouble of its own, and I’d like to suggest that each day also has enough of Gods daily bread to sustain us. But we must not put those other things before our eyes so often that they blind us and possibly turn to idols. Could it be that the enemy of our faith is stopping us from handling any normal day with joy and expectation in the Lord by simply causing us to think on other things?  Our future plans, desires for a new job, kids to be older, summer to end so they can go back to school, husband to change, more money to come in, healing to come, and more. There’s always something that we’ll need but there’s always many more things we can praise God for any given day. So the remedy for a heart that’s off focus? Destroy idols and delight yourself in the Lord. 

Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord... He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; 2 King 18:3-4

We have had to remove many idols in our family, from certain games on the ipod to foods and activities that trigger addictive behaviors that don’t honor the Lord. The rule is that when we can’t put something down or give it up, we get rid of it either permanently or until the person can use it in moderation. And we are all guilty at times; daddy can watch tv too long, mommy can shop online too often and we can all overeat on sweets.

Surely you don't think the Scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which He sent to live in us wants us for himself alone? James 4:5

It's not because God has a big ego but because we were created to be filled with Him and serve Him alone, and anything else will prove empty and cause misery. How loving and kind He is to be jealous for our best in this way.