God's Goal is God

Yesterday I tried to explain God's jealousy as a virtue rather than a vice. This may have been easy to understand and appreciate because I related it to our interests, i.e. God is jealous for us and is in passionate pursuit of us. However, today I want to go a step further with God's jealousy and explain it's ultimate aim and affection. However, this may not sit very well with us, because God's ultimate aim and affection, the ultimate object of God's jealousy is God. In other words, God is jealous for God. God tells us repeatedly that God is jealous for His name's sake. (Isaiah 9:7; 37:2; Ezekiel 5:13) Just when I suggested that God did not need a Stuart Smalley support group for His insecurity, now I throw this out there and once again, God seems narcissistic and struggling with low self-esteem.

However, when we view God's jealousy for God as synonymous with self-absorbtion, we are assuming that it is wrong for God to want and to pursue such an end. Yet this is the most appropriate end for God to pursue. In fact, it would be infinitely wrong for God to pursue anything less than God's own glory. What other glory should God pursue? Your glory? My glory?

The wonderful members of my congregation, although misguided in their passion for the Minnesota Vikings, would love for me to jump ship from my passion for the first place Green Bay Packers and be a fan of the third place Vikings. Why in the world would I want to do that?! To put it another way, who would want to be passionate about the Dallas Cowboys? In the same way, God will not and cannot jump ship from God's passion for God. God will not share his glory with anyone else. (Isaiahb 42) Nor will God be passionate about anyone or anything else other than God, because everything else pales in comparison to this preeminent passion. It would be morally wrong for God to be more passionate about anything other than God.

So while it appears that God is struggling with a low self-esteem, perhaps the real issue is that I/we don't hold God in high enough esteem. I know this is certainly the case in my life, when things do not go the way I want them to go. Don't misunderstand me, I am all for God receiving glory...as long as it does not cost me too much, because deep down, I cherish and am passionate about me, more than I am about God. God forgive me.

Beams Away!