Your Spiritual Biosphere
July 16, 2015Grace is Like Gravity
July 18, 2015
The characteristics of love that Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 13 are both a guide for us and a picture of God’s love for us.
“Love isn’t jealous” (1 Corinthians 13:4 GW).
But you are going to point out this verse in Exodus 20:5. “For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.”
Remember you always have to interpret scripture through the lens of the cross. God unconditionally loves. Jealousy is a terrible thing. It is resentment that stems from an insecure and anxious heart and revealed in threats that seek to shackle the object of its so-called love. Jealousy will make you possessive and controlling. That isn’t love.
Under the law God demanded that Israel only serve Him. He was trying to protect them. If they started serving other gods, then the possible destruction of Israel serving God would be devastating to God’s redemption plan. That was the law that kept them from staying too far.
At the cross, Jesus fulfilled the law. Under grace we see the true nature of a loving God. He loves unconditionally. To love Him back is your choice. So our call, to be like Him, without jealousy.
