Jealousy

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What  comes to mind for you, when you think of the word Jealousy, honestly, for me, one of the firs things that I think about is Cruellea De vil  from the Dalmations movies. With her large fur coat, and how she is totally rich, but totally unhappy, isn’t she like the most transparent bad guy ever, I mean her name is Cruella…really Cruella… man her parents must have really hated her, she never had a chance with a name like Cruella De vil...(real subtle)

But jealousy is a much bigger thing then just some puppy haters, it is a constant companion.

Jealousy is a big deal.

Proverbs 27:4

Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

Jealousy is a funny thing, because you hate it when you see it In others, but it is often so hard to see it in yourself.

I know this is true for me, because I spent a couple years of my life being totally jealous of the guys on my college baseball team, (I didn’t want to be them, but I wanted what they had) I was sitting on the bench, and they got to play all of the time, and the coaches liked them better, and ultimately treated them better to. After a while, my jelousy made me  tell some of the worst lies I have ever told in my life.

 I got so sick and tired of being around these guys, (because they had what I wanted and could not get) I made up an injury. For two weeks I said I hurt my arm, because I was so tired of having no excuse for why I wasn’t playing. And I went to the doctors and I lied, and I went to my coaches and I lied. All because I wanted something somebody else had, and if I couldn’t have it, I needed a good excuse for why. Truth be told I really don’t like that part of myself, but it is so hard to escape this endless  mind game of compare and contrast.

 I tell you this story because I want you to know that jealousy is a dangerous thing. I was willing to lie, to compromise my charecture, and my relationship with God, all because I wanted something that I could not get, so badly, that it seemed like it was all that mattered. Jealousy is a sin source in my life for sure.

It says in Deuteronomy 6:14-15

¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the Lord your God  who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.

This section of the 10 commandments makes it clear that God is jealous for us. And God is jealous for us, so we don't have to be jealous.

  After a few weeks I felt so guilty about all the lying, I decided to quit playing baseball. Baseball had become a huge idol in my life.It statred of really good for me, but  for far to long I had based all of my self-worth on wether I was better then the people around me at sports. And God was telling me that he wanted me to get my sense of self worth from Him and Him alone. He was jealous for me. He wanted all of me. Not just one part. He wanted my attention, about all of those other things I like to keep to myself, pretending as if God doesn't know about them. And He still does.

Some of the most important leaders in the bible had some of there darkest moments because of jealousy, guys like David. This leader of all of Israel was an extremely Jealous man. Check this drama out.......

2 Samuel 11

11 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, ³ and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,^[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

¹² Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. ”

¹⁶ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

David screwed up big time, jealousy can make us do things we would never normally do. It will make us do totally stupid things and then  lie to cover them up, just like it did for david. (A man after Gods own heart!).

The bible is full of stories of great triumphs and total screw ups. Both are there for a reason. Practically speaking, we are supposed to duplicate the good stuff, and try not to be quite so bad as the bad stuff.

Lets learn from David's story. Flat out, straight up, If you can be rooted in God's love, then you can overcome your jealousy. When God is your first priority, you will never worry about how good someone else has it.  Even better, you will be able to cheer people on when they have sucess, by getting to start over you, or getting an A or learning how to play the obow better than you, or get that pretty girlfriend, or that handsome dude. In heaven we will be endlessly applauding eachother, because we will finally see how perfect God's final plan was for each of us. Why he gifted us in the unique ways he did. God put this don’t follow after Idols thing in the bible, because he knew, just like there is good and bad anger. There is also good and bad jealousy. And all the good jealousy comes from HIM! God wants us to  focused on him, and to let Him care for us. He wants us to know that we are so loved and approved of that we don’t need to seek the approval of others. If you feel a jealousy in your heart that is leading you to make some bad decisions like, me, or like david, I pray that you would have the courage to make a change in your life. And to live in the freedom of not having to constantly play the compare and contrast game.