Even for those without religious beliefs, jealousy can become a big problem. Just think about it. How many burglaries and thefts do you think are related to jealousy? If you want what somebody else has got, why not just take it? Of course we cannot blame each and every theft that takes place on this principle but it could still have an element of truth to it for some cases.
Jealousy is an emotion. It was a very real emotion which was felt by the brothers of Joseph in the story of Joseph and his technicolour dream coat. Joseph was his father's favourite son and he was showered with gifts of love continuously. Now just image how that would make you feel. It wouldn't be nice now would it? That is not to say that a parent shouldn't love their child too much. You certainly cannot love too much but you can show love inappropriately. It was this unequal display of love that created the resentment amongst the other brothers.
So what happened?
Well, the brothers began telling lies. They first reported back to their father that Joseph was not fulfilling his duties as a Shepherd and then when they sold Joseph into slavery, they told their father that a wild animal had killed and eaten him. To summarise the whole story, what began with jealousy turned into a tangled web of lies, deception, anger, hatred, kidnapping, attempted murder, slavery and then later involved imprisonment and further heartbreak for Joseph's family.
Then and now
Although this happened an incredibly long time ago, in modern terms it still happens now. Jealousy brings decay to our lives because it makes us focus on anger and bitterness (Proverbs 14:30). People steal from others in response to their jealousy and lust for someone else's property (Proverbs 12:12). It tells us in Ephesians that we should not give the devil any opportunity to get into our lives. Therefore we must be aware that jealousy can grow into bigger things in exactly the same way as with Joseph's brothers. The devil creates jealousy and it can take over our lives. If we love to be generous however, we push jealousy away, meaning that we are less likely to be lead astray. Jealousy is evil and God tells us not to do evil. We cannot let bad feelings cause us to hurt our relationship with God or others.
Jealousy will always show itself eventually. Even if we keep quiet, people will see it in our body language and facial expressions. It will creep out whether we like it or not because it is poison.
It is not always the physical we can be jealous of though. The spiritual plays a huge role in it too. We can sometimes be jealous that others appear to be closer to God than us or have more gifts than us. Well firstly, things are not always black and white. In other words they may not actually be as "spiritual" as you think. Secondly, this is jealousy! There is no way to wrap it up in better words. It is what it is and we must change that. God is not going to give us what we need or bring us closer to Him when we sit around wishing we had what the lady sat in the front pew has. If we act in the right way God will bless us, but not until we get ourselves in order.
God is a jealous God
I want to make it clear that whilst arguing the case against jealousy, one type of jealousy is acceptable. God is a jealous God, but His jealousy is a righteous one, just like he has a righteous anger. He has these emotions because his creation gives honour and glory to things of this world rather than to Him. He rightfully deserves that honour and so this type of jealousy is just recognition that God is above all things and deserves His rightful place in our lives. It is only fair that if God can be jealous in this way, we can be too. After all, we have been made in His likeness. This means then that we become jealous for God and not for ourselves. We should not be jealous because we are not getting what we want for ourselves, but because God is not getting what He deserves. This is not to say that if we find ourselves becoming jealous for ourselves we should become heavily burdened by it and shut ourselves off from God. Instead, we should respond to it in the right way.
Our response
If we find ourselves becoming jealous we have to give it over to God. We have to assess our emotions - are they in line with God's emotions? To find that out we need to read the word (the Bible) because the word is truth. God's word will change us. When our attitude changes other things change too, including our spiritual lives so we can go and bear fruit. If we ignore our bad emotions we cannot be forgiven. We ask God to "forgive us our sins as we forgive those against us" (the Lord's Prayer). Well how can He forgive us if we have something against another person? That is why it is important to be sure there is nothing between us and God or us and other people because otherwise we are bringing judgment on ourselves. God could not forgive Joseph's brothers until they had said sorry and turned away from those wrong actions. It is exactly the same for us.
