Jealousy of the Holy Spirit and Keeping God’s Attention

Jealousy of the Holy Spirit and Keeping God’s Attention

November 26, 2013 Year A

The Scripture says that the Spirit yearns jealously.

Exodus 20:5 refers to the jealousy of God. God is a jealous God.

Isaiah 42:8 and Isaiah 48:11 both say that God does not share His glory.

So there is this sense that God is jealous and does not want His attention in our lives taken away from someone or something else. The Spirit wants us to focus on God. The Spirit is jealous when we shift our attention to other things, which by their very nature do not have the same worth and value.

James 4:4 is the world which draws our attention away from God. This world entices us like a salesman entices us to buy. This world entices us like an alcoholic is enticed to drink. This world entices us like an addict is enticed to shoot up.

The Spirit’s jealousy is tempered by God’s grace. He gives grace to those who resist the temptation to share time and attention away from God.

James 4:7 says that the Devil is in the business of drawing me away from God and toward the world as my leader. The Spirit is in the business to help me overcome that temptation. Matthew 4:1 shows that the Spirit leads us not into temptation to be overcome by it, but to prove that God still has our attention.