Have you ever felt jealous? I know I have. While that feeling may often result from a corrupted way of viewing our friends and relationships, that sense of jealousy is something God feels too. He is jealous for us. In particular, he does not want us to adore or worship any god other than him. He demands that he be the sole object of our worship.

And what about those times when we do put something else in God's place? How does God respond to that? Well, as uncomfortable as it may be, the Bible indicates that because these things always result in a perpetuation of sin, he hates them and is wrathful against them.

The good news? Jesus dove in front of that bullet to save us. While we should have rightly been the objects of God's wrath, Jesus took all of that wrath on himself. That is what makes the story of Jesus' death and resurrection so compelling: we do not have to believe in a God who doesn't care about the evil of sin. We believe in a God who rightly hates sin but who loves us enough to save us, even at tremendous cost!

We can all easily recognize that not all is as it should be in the world. Chaos and evil abound where there should be peace and justice. The good news is that we serve the God who brings that peace to Earth!

He does not always administer his justice immediately because he is patiently providing us with opportunities to repent of our wrongdoing and turn to him, but eventually, in the end, he will make everything right, and peace will rule on Earth!

Knowing this, we can freely forgive those who wrong us because we know that God will make those wrongs right.

Life can seem pretty humdrum at times. Between rushing to eat lunch on a quick break, getting stuck in traffic on your way to work, or changing dirty diapers for the ten-thousandth time, it may seem like there's nothing truly transcendent. However, the authors of the Bible made it clear that when they encountered God, they were face-to-face with someone whose nature was truly "other" from their experience of everyday life. This is God's holiness.

What's more: God loves you too much to leave you how you are. If you love him, then he plans to make you holy too!