Author: ShapedByTruth

one thing that sticks in my craw is the redefinition of terms

it is interesting how covetousness has been redefined as “jealousy” and the original meaning of jealousy has been lost…

today we say that one person is jealous over what another person has…

that is NOT jealousy, that is covetousness.

covetousness is desiring something that is not rightfully yours, and it is a sin.

by calling covetousness “jealously”, it seems to take the sting of sinfulness out of the behavior in people’s minds.

also, the loss of the true meaning and role of jealousy causes us to question God’s character when the God reveals jealousy as one of His characteristics.

jealousy is actually the opposite of covetousness…

jealousy is the guarding of something that is rightfully yours…

to best understand this, we can examine the role of righteous jealousy in the marriage covenant.

there are affections of a husband that should only be reserved for his wife

the wife has every right to be jealous over those affections that are rightfully due her only and no one else.

by the same token, there are affections of a wife that should be reserved only for her husband

the husband has every right to be jealous over those affections that are rightfully due to him and to no one else.

matter of fact, i would question a person’s profession of love if they were never jealous.  lack of any jealousy is an indicator of a lack of any true healthy emotional attachment.

the marriage relationship is often used to help us understand our relationship with God and helps us to understand how God is jealous over our affections that are due to Him and Him alone.

that is why the first and second commanded are what they are, written by God Himself with His own finger, God describes Himself as jealous:

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make up for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shalt not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:3-6

God has demonstrated His great love toward us through His paying the ultimate price for us, and He is righteously jealous concerning our attentions and affections that are due Him.

while covetousness is a sin, jealously is an essential component of Love.

Blind support of government is a hazardous thing.  

Note that all the atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany were all perfectly and meticulously “legal” and supported by laws put into effect by democratically elected representatives.  

The laws were of course immoral, but the government sponsored church of the time said that since God instituted government, then we should follow whatever the “law of the land” was without question.  

This left even “christians” without the moral grounding to say “no” to things that were clearly against God’s law because they were “legal” according to man’s law.

This is due to an erroneous interpretation of Romans 13 that civil government must be submitted to regardless of how evil or immoral its laws might be. This fallacious interpretation of Romans 13 (which is taught in practically every Christian school and college in America) has made them de facto slaves and worshippers of the state. 

As did Germany’s pastors and Christians in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, America’s pastors and Christians suffer from national “exceptionalism.” 

This fallacy leads them to believe that by serving the state, they are serving God. In their minds, one cannot be “right with God” if they are not totally submissive to the state.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29

the pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more…

one thing that is prevalent today is covetousness.

our marketing saturated society has not only made covetousness “ok”, it has made covetousness an essential part of our daily lives.

 Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? – Luke 6:39

Public service announcement to girls and women everywhere:

Don’t be fooled and don’t be naive…

Men see relationships with women differently than women see relationships with men…

Men are friendly with a women for one reason and one reason only…

friendly: anything beyond common courtesy and politeness

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come 

For men will be:

lovers of themselves,
lovers of money,
boasters,
proud,
blasphemers,
disobedient to parents,
unthankful,
unholy,
unloving,
unforgiving,
slanderers,
without self-control,
brutal,
despisers of good,
traitors,
headstrong,
haughty,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

2 Timothy 3:1-4

letting others do whatever they want is not love, it is permissiveness

God is the God of Love, not permissiveness…

suffer for the sake of righteousness 1 Peter 3:8-15

righteousness includes standing for righteousness even when none other stands with you

it is not laying down letting others walk all over you

relationships with anyone, be it your spouse, children, family and/or friends, is best built on communication that has lots of variety, sincerity, and humility (preferring the other in love). 

praying silently to the Lord is great, and personally i spend probably 99% of my prayer life praying silently and/or quietly privately between myself and the Lord throughout each day.

however, some folks make it a religious practice of silent prayer being the ONLY way to pray, and they look down their noses at anyone that thinks otherwise.

the truth is, praying silently can be abused as a religious practice as much as praying out loud can be abused as a religious practice.

the key is moderation in all things, and while we have a lot of liberty in how we pray and worship, whatever we do must be done decently and in order, within the boundaries described by God in scripture. (1Cor 14:40)

i can find nothing in the Bible that would suggest that we should ONLY pray out loud, and nothing in the Bible that we should ONLY pray silently.  instead, there are lots of examples in the old and new testament of both silent and out loud prayer.

there are numerous examples of both corporate and individual prayer being done out loud.  Jesus Himself prayed out loud and prayed out loud when making the meal time blessing (Matt 14:19-21; Matt 15:34-36; Matt 26:26; Luke 24:30; John 17; Acts 1:14; 1:24; 8:15; 16:25; 20:36; 27:35; 1Cor 10:30)

if there wasn’t spoken prayer, then how could the other members of the body be in agreement?  Matt 18:19-20

the Bible clearly teaches that having someone pray out loud in a way that others could understand during a gathering of believers was good for the edification, teaching, and agreement of others (1Cor 14:15-19)

at the same time, there are clearly wrong ways of praying out loud.  prayer becomes a religious exercise when it is just vain repetition that loses meaning and/or when the motivation for praying is done to draw attention to the “piety” of the one praying  (Luke 18:10-14; Luke 20:46-47; Matt 6:5)

the key to keep in mind is not the religious practice, but the relationship…

the question to ask is: how can i best go about building my relationship with God?

relationships with anyone, be it your spouse, children, family and/or friends, is best built on communication that has lots of variety, sincerity, and humility (preferring the other in love).

so the answer is to pray both silently and out loud, and whatever you do, be sure it is sincerely motivated by a desire for a stronger relationship with God.