andrewhong.net

I want people to be jealous for the glory of God. The problem is that jealousy is not an affection we are used to think of in a positive way at all.

 

But just say you’re married. Even your rudest friend would be unwilling to say demeaning things about your wife in your presence. They would be hesitant to say, "Man, your wife is really ugly." They would know that’s simply not on for you. There is the very real risk that you might even punch them, because you love your wife. And whatever their thoughts about your spouse, it is simply out of the question for them to show such disrespect in your presence. Because as a husband you are jealous for your wife’s honour.

This jealousy for our spouse’s honour should be, in a small way, like our jealousy for God’s glory. We should be a people who for whom the glory of God is so precious that it is obvious to our non Christian friends. Not that they know we simply acknowledge his importance – but more than that, we are jealous for his glory. We are outraged and hurt, we are disturbed and incensed when people dishonour God.

 

It’s the difference between them disagreing with us over economic theory (where people can disagree strongly yet still remain cordial) – and them saying to your face that your wife is ugly (where there is no possibility of cordiality). In both the first and second cases above you believe a different thing from your friend at an intellectual level. But only in the second case are your affections engaged – and they are eengaged strongly. Not only do you think your wife is pretty (at an intellectual level), you also love your wife fiercely (at an affective level).

 

It is this second kind of affection that should characterise our love for God. We are to be a people who do not just think that God is important… No, more than that: we love God, and are jealous for his glory.

 

And so your friends should be wary about speaking against the God they know you are jealous for. Sure, they might think differently – but I want for them to be wary about dishonouring God in your presence. Because they know that you are jealous for his glory – and who knows what’ll happen? Maybe you’ll punch them. or scratch their car.

 

Not that I want you to punch people or scratch people’s cars – but I want your jealousy for God’s glory to be so fierce and real that they will never be sure how safe it is to dishonour God in your presence. Just as they would never be sure how safe it is to say rude things about their friends’ wife in his presence.

 

In the end what we are doing when we interface with the world is not simply calling people to hold certain opinions which are only tickle us at the intellectual level. No, much more than that – we are calling on our friends to come and see the glory of God, that they might love him, fear him, and worship him alone. Our jealousy for his glory reveals to them something that they didn’t expect – that God is worthy of our fiercest affections – and, by God’s grace they may come to see that he is also worthy of their fiercest affections.

 

So don’t easily put up with those who laugh at our God, knowing what he is to us. And don’t laugh along as though it doesn’t matter to you so much that he is so dishonoured by his own creatures. No: be jealous for the glory of God!

 

[ PS: how would you respond if someone deliberately said rude things to you about your husband or wife? ]