Green-Eyed Monster

Write an anonymous letter to someone you’re jealous of.

Merriam-Webster defines jealous:

1. 1 :  hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage :  envious His success made his old friends jealous. They were jealous of his success.
2. 2a :  intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness jealous of the slightest interference in household management — Havelock Ellisb :  disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness a jealous husband
3. 3 :  vigilant in guarding a possession new colonies were jealous of their new independence — Scott Buchanan

Jealousy.  What a topic!  When I read this prompt last week I started searching my heart.  Is there someone I am jealous of?  I thought about this a lot and I can honestly say there is not.  Are there people who enjoy an advantage of me?  Of course!  I don't have to look far to find those who are smarter, richer, thinner, run faster, play the piano and sing better, or cook finer meals.  But I am not jealous of them.

Jealousy is poisonous.  It hurts relationships, but it hurts the one who is jealous most of all.

I asked Les this question this morning, "Where does jealousy begin?"  We came up with several ways - low self esteem, lack of gratefulness, discontentment, comparison.  One of my favorite quotes is, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  When we start comparing ourselves to others, we lose sight of all the good in our lives.

Proverbs 6:34 says, "For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance."  John Gill's commentary said, "Fills a man with rage against him of whom he is jealous; which keeps boiling within him, till he has an opportunity of venting it: and very severe it is; it is strong as death, and cruel as the grave."  Jealousy boils inside us until we boil over.

In Paul's letter to the Galatians he lists the works of the flesh in chapter 5 verses 19-21.  In the middle of a list that includes adultery, fornication, hatred, and murder, he includes envyings.  Envy is another word for jealousy.  Jealousy is a work of the flesh which John Gill describes as, "uneasy distressing tortures of the mind, grieving at the good of others, that any should be in an equal, or in a better condition than themselves."

What is the antidote to jealousy?  Following Paul's list of the works of the flesh, he lists the fruit of the Spirit, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."  We have to be filled with the Spirit of God to overcome the works of our flesh.  When love, joy and peace fill us there is no room for comparison and jealousy.

Philippians 4:11 says "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible had some powerful things to say about this verse: 

"That is, to have a contented mind. Paul says that he had “learned” this. Probably by nature he had a mind as prone to impatience as others, but he had been in circumstances fitted to produce a different state of feeling. He had had ample experience and, in his life of trials, he had acquired invaluable lessons on the subject. He had had abundant time for reflection, and he had found that there was grace enough in the gospel to enable him to bear trials with resignation. The considerations by which he had been taught this, he does not state; but they were probably such as the following: that it is wrong to complain at the allotments of Providence; that a spirit of impatience does no good, remedies no evil, and supplies no want; that God could provide for him in a way which he could not foresee, and that the Saviour was able abundantly to sustain him. A contented mind is an invaluable blessing, and is one of the fruits of religion in the soul. It arises from the belief that God is right in all his ways. Why should we be impatient, restless, discontented? What evil will be remedied by it? what want supplied? what calamity removed? “He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” Proverbs 15:15; and one of the secrets of happiness is to have a mind satisfied with all the allotments of Providence. The members of the Episcopal church beautifully pray, every day: “Give us minds always contented with our present condition.” No prayer can be offered which will enter more deeply into all our happiness on earth."

Contentment or jealousy, it's a choice, and we can't have both.