Christian Devotional for Teenagers

Part 18- Jealous For Not Of

  "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." Exodus 20:5

Jealousy.

Have you ever wondered what the Bible meant when it said that God is a jealous God? I mean isn't jealousy a bad thing or have people been lying to me for years?

Well if you really want to know, the bad type of jealousy is when you are jealous OF someone. I am jealous of Lucy because she has the newest iPhone and I don't. But when you are jealous FOR someone, like God is for us, that's a whole other story.

In the verse it explains that people were making idols and worshiping worldly objects instead of giving God the worship he deserves.

So, God is jealous for the things that belong to Him. And he is sad that we don't realize that. We need to give Him all the glory and praise because without God there would be no purpose in life. If you just take the time, you will see that the verse speaks to you.

Maybe today you played video games for an hour and never touched you devotional, maybe you listened to music you shouldn't have and ignored God's call to sit down and talk to him. Honestly, the things I just described have happened to me. These days I have ignored God's plead for worship. This is why He is jealous for me. I am blessed that I have realized this and have given Him the attention and love He deserves.

I hope that we will today give God the glory he deserves and be jealous FOR someone instead OF someone. 

Dear Jesus,

Thank you so much for your jealousy because you are our God who looks out for us and makes sure we praise you every day. You sit at our door waiting for us to open it and invite you into our home to worship you. I love you so much. Please bless all my readers, my friends, and the whole world to love you the way they should and be jealous for someone today.

Amen.