Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; Exodus 20:5
For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24
That is even one of God’s names, Jealous:
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord,
whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Exodus 34:14
Some people can be jealous over us.
They would like us to serve them and obey them.
They might be manipulative and controlling
or other combinations of jealousy.
This jealousy God has over us is for adoration to Him,
and is from the Ten Commandments
where we are to have no gods before Him.
This jealousy people can have over us conflicts with serving the Lord.
Jesus is the One who deserves reverent honor.
We are always to keep Jesus first and then,
He encourages us or reminds us to honor others, including our spouses.
God first, then everyone else.
If we do things another way, it is off balance.
It is always amazing to me that people like to be worshiped.
They like to be revered, even in place of God.
Some are not aware of this, yet they are skillful at this.
They use obligation as a form of manipulation.
We are obligated to no human.
Putting God first gives us the opportunity to be obedient to Him.
It could very well be people will have our heart,
but it should first belong to Jesus.
It’s a careful line because we are supposed to love others, serve others,
though never above the Lord.
What you decide to do in your life, ideally, is for God,
and is in reverent awe and fear of Him.
He does want us to love others.
He should never be excluded or minimized below them.
When we realize that obedience and obligation are enemies,
they do not coexist, then we will be more free to serve the Lord.
Realizing that pressure we receive from humans is not from the Lord,
like Martha when she complained to the Lord that
Mary wasn’t doing her part…
She likely had talked to Mary before she took the problem to Jesus.
Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a certain village:
and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet,
and heard His word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving,
and came to Him, and said, Lord,
dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her,
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42
Choose the good part.
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30