Jealousy

Proverbs 27:4
Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but who can survive the destructiveness of jealousy?

It's true, anger is pretty cruel. When we are angry, we don't always say or do the right thing. It relies on a source to stoke the fire until we are counting down; 3, 2, 1 and bang, we have blown our top. Most of the time, anger fizzles out and we move on. Sometimes it may fester into something else. Wrath is usually a result of anger. It is the action to the emotion. It is what we do when everything comes spilling out of our blown tops and we have lost all control. Jealousy is different. It weaves anger and wrath together, causing us to make a destructive path all around us. First of all, it attacks our very being, our self-confidence that we are to be happy with who we are, who God created us to be. It convinces us that we are not good enough. If it does not succeed there, it creates the image that the person that we are jealous of is doing it on purpose, that they want to hurt us. It destroys all of our relationships. It causes us to build walls and to put wedges in other relationships.

Look at Cain and Able (Genesis 4). They were the first set of brothers ever recorded in the Bible, children of Adam and Eve. Cain killed Abel because he let his anger fester and turn into wrath. He became so destructive he took his own brother's life. Sometimes jealousy makes our purpose in life grow dim, or it replaces our desire for certain things with the desire to be better than someone else, to be more successful, to drive the better vehicle, have the better wife, be a better mom, etc..

Do you have a jealousy story? What was the outcome of your jealousy? Is it possible that you may be jealous now? What happens when jealousy takes root in your heart. Is it time for some weeding? Time to let go of the lies that you may be holding on to. Is it time for you to stop looking at what everyone else has and what you don't? What can you do today to stop jealousy in your life?

Dear Lord,
I want to thank you first for being a God that is jealous of us. How you desire so deeply that we would be in a relationship with you. Lord, I pray that we would never let our desires, our jealousy cloud our character and reflection of you. That we could understand how destructive it is to let our hearts be open to jealousy. Lord, I ask that you work in and through each of our lives. Please help us to get rid of all jealousy and to be able to love as we want to be loved. Amen.