Don't Make God Jealous

(note: I was supposed to do this yesterday, but problems with my internet provided me with the excuse not to. Forgive me. I am attempting to right that now...)

...don't make God jealous? What's -that- all about?? Well, I don't know about you, but tend to forget sometimes that we have more similarities with God than we think that we do (Genesis 1:27). One of these similarities is that God does indeed get jealous (Exodus 34:14).
You see...we go about our lives and work all day for the "Root of all Evil", but God gets the time, and money, that's left over. By the way, be careful of being "married" to your job (II Corinthians 11:2). Just as there have been divorces over a spouse being too "married" to their job, it isn't that far of a stretch to all but divorce yourself from all things Godly in pursuit of that next promotion, just losing yourself in work, or what have you...the caution is because God wants us for Himself, first.
Christ is to marry the church in the last day, right? (Rev 19:7-8) Btw...allow me to add a bit of clarity to that verse. -We-, being all who are saved, called according to His purpose, are Saints by God's definition (I Corinthians 1:2, Psalms 85:8). So then...we, the Church made up of the Saints, are to be married to Christ in the last day. What does a jealous husband (or future husband) do when he isn't getting enough attention? He gets rid of the competition, or he has no more use for the bride-to-be (Joshua 24:19-20). Note: it's not that God will never forgive you, it's just that He doesn't forget, so you should be careful thinking that you can do whatever you want to because "God is love" and your every sin is forgiven before you even commit it. I mean...all of that is true, but that doesn't mean that you can't still "catch a beating", so to speak.
Examine Exodus 20:4-5 with me for a minute. We look around at this point and notice the lack of any carved images of the Buddha or whatnot and think that we're good. "-I- don't have a 'graven image' ". I want you to know that -anything- that you place before God is a form of "a god". You may say, "but I don't pray to them". So...is -that- the measure of what makes a person, place, thing, or idea holy?? Then tell me...how often do you pray to God, then??? Now subtract when you're at church, when you're about to eat, and when you want or need something and re-answer that question. Don't worry, that pricks my conscious, too. Now, in the same breath you may just about pray to your car when you need it to start in the morning to keep you from being late to work. Does this seem familiar: "Pleeease start! -Please- start!! I got to get to work on -time- today. Come on girl/man". Now...personally my little "g" god is in my relationship. I find that i put the person that I am with absolutely and unequivocally first. When my conscious, or the Spirit within me, -is- pricked, I tend to try to placate it by saying that Shee is the woman that God has meant for me, so I'm just loving her the way that I should. With all of me. Do you think that is what God meant?? I'm not bashing women, but look what happened when great men of God listened to their wives more than they listened to God. Starting with Adam (Genesis 3:6). Adam saw the face of God -daily-, and still stumbled at the buzzer-beater, so to speak, for putting the wrong one first. Abraham, progenitor of the God's chosen people, wasn't immune to listening to the wrong person, either (Genesis 16:1-5). On the other hand, we have Job who pulled a Matrix and, thankfully, dodged that bullet (Job 2:9) preserving his testimony and, I believe, his life. He definitely wouldn't have gotten the blessing that he later received (Job 42:10-17) had he heeded such terrible advice.

-----------------------------

Bottom Line:

Put God first.
Seek God early and often and He will bless you for it (Prov 8:17-18, Matthew 6:33, Psalms 91:14b).

Set nothing before Him.
It's hard to seek His face when all that you can see is what you have set in front of Him. And sometimes, He just might remove that thing, if only temporarily, just to see -your- face again. This is a two-way relationship, not just some rituals and rigamarole. Never forget that. Just as your "significant other", or even your family or closest friend(s), doesn't want to have to wait around for you to decide to pay them attention, God wants your attention.
But, being a merciful God, He's not a tyrant with your attention (Psalm 37:4). He's not trying to smother you, it's just that He's called first dibs on our meager attention spans and He wants his fair share throughout the day.

Let me leave you with this:
Pay Him attention. It's the greatest investment that you could -ever- make.
(Yeah...I know that someone will quote me on that, after they get it. I just ask for credit where it's due [II Corinthians 10:15]. Yes, you can quote me as "The Truf", also. Please and thank you)