Are You Cheating on God? - H

If you know me at all, you'll know that I love the comparison of Jesus and the Church to a marriage. More specifically, I love comparing our relationship with God to a relationship of boyfriend-girlfriend. It helps me understand how we fit into God's love story, by rationalizing it to something I know and recognize in everyday life (which, of course, was God's intention in presenting the concept that way. But I digress.)

I feel like every little girl wants their "Happily Ever After." They want a Prince Charming to sweep them off their feet and carry them off into the sunset, someone to care for them and cherish them the way they deserve. And everyone deserves someone like that, don't get me wrong. In fact, it breaks my heart to see so many young people pursuing such foolish relationships when I know God has someone so much better for them out there.

But my question for you is this: are you cheating on God?

You're probably like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? How can I cheat on God?" It's not as tough as you'd think at first. In fact, sometimes we're almost unaware of it.

When you're in a romantic relationship, you're typically expected to be faithful to that one person. I know nowadays there are such things as "open relationships" when two people agree they might not be faithful to each other, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm referring to is a simple, honest relationship in which two people are faithful to one another, and they hold their partner to that same standard.

Now, what qualifies as being "unfaithful"? Ah, now there's a tough question. Ask a variety of people, and you'll get a variety of answers. I asked Google, which brought answers like, "anything physical," "actions you feel you need to hide," "talking to someone suggestively," and even "always liking another girl's Instagram picture." One I especially liked was, "going outside of the relationship, whether physically or emotionally."

Now that we have an idea of what it means to be unfaithful in a romantic relationship, I have another tough question for you: why do people cheat?

Again, you could give me any array of answers (*cough* excuses) but for me, the bottom line is priorities. When you cheat on someone, it's because your partner isn't nearly as important to you as they should be. It means that when given the choice between two options, you made the decision to choose the other option. The option that might seem better in the moment, or more attractive in whatever way, but in the long run, it's never worth it.

Priorities. What are yours?

priority (n.) the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important

Okay, now we're down to the nitty-gritty. If you have anything in your life that takes precedence over God, you're cheating on Him. Period. There's no other way around it.

It could be the excuses you make instead of reading your Bible. It could be spending time with friends instead of spending time in prayer. It could be skipping church to sleep, or picking up an extra shift on Sundays instead of resting on the Sabbath.

Listen, I'm not trying to accuse you; in fact, in writing this post, I'm talking to myself more than to you. Today I realized I'm cheating on God, and I decided to write this post as a sort of reality check for both myself and for you.

Why are we here? To build His kingdom. At the end of the day, that should be our #1 priority.