“…because he was zealous for his God,”
I heard the following story from pastor Domingo Fernandez: There once was an extremely jealous husband in the city of Miami. He was in fact, so jealous that he did not allowed his wife to go out of the house under any circumstances, unless he was accompanying her.
One day a new family moved next door, which included a very handsome young man. The jealous husband intensified his vigilance and increased the criticism of his faithful wife. He told her repeatedly not to look to the young man because she was going to fall in love with him. Finally the criticism and jealousy became reality as the wife left the angry husband for the attractive neighbor.
Many marriages have ended up in irreversible separations because of unproved and false accusations. Thousands of couples have “killed” the love and trust they had for each other in their relationship with their off base jealousy. Countless women have been beaten by jealous partners and many men feel like prisoners of their jealous wives or girlfriends.
The children of God must be zealous (not jealous) for God. Our zeal or passion should move us to glorify God, just as Phinehas did. His zeal led him to execute sinners, while ours motivates us to rescue them from hell
Do not practice jealousy, but be zealous for the cause of Christ. Read his Word; Reach out to the world with the Good News; and always make sure that you Respond positively whenever and for whatever he calls you.
A. G.
