8月6日

標　　題：忌邪的神

經　　節：因為耶和華你的神乃是烈火，是忌邪的神。（申命記四章24節）

我們的神是烈火。只有讓祂的愛完全充滿我們，祂才心滿意足。提到嫉妒的人，我們總是聯想到充滿憤恨、疑神疑鬼的人，然而，主的嫉妒卻是值得我們珍惜的！祂對我們的生命有完全的主權。祂賜予我們生命，並且在各方面保護我們免受傷害。這就是為什麼祂命令祂的兒女，不可拜其他假神，祂不允許任何東西隔離我們與祂完全的愛。

主憎恨任何妨礙我們與祂關係的人事物（申命記六：15）。祂知道其他假神的危險性，祂清楚知道它們會如何誘惑我們離開神，它們會欺騙我們，留下空虛的生命給我們。祂不能容忍我們放置任何人事物高過對祂的愛。對神的忠誠，保證我們能夠享有祂要賜予的豐盛生命。如果我們拒絕祂，祂會不斷追求我們，直到我們回轉到祂的面前。

我們不該為了神要保護我們與祂的關係，而憎恨神。知道神護衛我們與祂的關係，使我們得安慰。我們與神的關係，應居生命中最高的優先地位。這份關係會指引我們如何運用自己的時間、金錢和精力。如果某個人或財產使我們與神分離，我們一定要再次檢視自己的心，再次把自己奉獻給神，照著神的命令，把神放在我們生命中的第一位。神要我們每個人能夠盡心、盡意、盡性、盡力地愛祂（馬可福音十二：30）。我們對神的愛應該拓展到生命的每個角落。神深愛我們，甚至將祂的獨生子賜給我們。讓我們把自己完全奉獻給祂，來回報祂的愛。

A Jealous God

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)

Our God is a consuming fire. He is satisfied only when His love totally consumes us. We usually think of a jealous person as someone resentful and suspicious, but the Lord’s jealousy on our behalf is something that should be precious to us! He has the complete right to our lives. He gave us life, and He wants to protect us from anything that could harm us. That is why He has commanded His children to worship no other gods, allowing nothing to distract us from His consuming love.

The Lord opposes anything that hinders our relationship with Him (Deut. 6:15). He knows the danger of other gods, how they will lure us away, deceive us, and leave us empty. He will tolerate nothing that takes precedence over our love for Him. Our faithfulness to God assures us of the abundant life He wants to give us. If we reject Him, He will pursue us until we return to Him.

We should not resent the fact that God wants to guard our relationship with Him. It should bring us comfort. Our relationship with God should be our top priority. It should dictate how we spend our time, our money, and our energy. If certain people or our possessions separate us from God, we must reexamine our hearts and give our devotion first to Him, as He commands. God wants each of us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30). Our love for God should extend to every corner of our lives. God loved us so much that He gave us His own Son. Let us respond by giving Him our highest devotion in return.