Have you ever asked yourself why you tend to get jealous at times?
The three eyed monster in each one of us, also known as jealousy, comes from the French word gelos meaning the state or feeling of being jealous.
So how does it affect us as a person, as a Christian?
For starters, jealousy or being jealous is natural to man. Though sometimes, we either surpass the feeling or not; but, a lot of us have been bitten or controlled by the green eyed monster.
The Bible says in Galatians 6:4 (KJV) "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."
Being jealous is part of us being human, because we are in the flesh and the flesh is weak, but what are the things that makes jealousy bad?
Jealousy hinders our relationship with God. Take note, "hinders" not "severs" our relationship with God is eternal, therefore no sin can take it away from us. The moment we accepted Christ as our Savior, we were given the power to become the son of God. Our relationship with Him is absolute, it will never disappear, but jealousy hinders it.
The way we pray, the way we talk to Him, it even darkens our hearts and makes us vulnerable to sin, to think bad things, to be sad.
As James 4:6 (KJV) says, "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."
So how does jealousy apply to all of that?
1. We are always competing
Mind you, being competitive is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a good thing that can be bad if you let it drive you. Being competitive improves your being as a person. Your performance, and your output but, keep in mind that not everything is a competition. A healthy competition is good, but when we let the competition dominate us, our relationships, strife and hurt feelings will always be the result.
2. We are always comparing
As Galatians 6:4 says, "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." God created us the way we are as a reason. God has a purpose to everything, we might not see it now but everything is created in His plan. He loves us for who we are, no matter what shape, what attitude, what darkness we have in our life.
For example, if God has a purpose in our life; then why would we want to be someone else? It's almost the same as saying that others have a better idea for your life than God does.
3. We are always criticizing and complaining
One of the natures of man is to complain. In fact, we can complain all day and not accomplish anything. Complaining is innate to us. However, Philippians 2:14 says "Do all things without murmurings and disputings:" If you find yourself constantly criticizing others, guess what? They might not be the real problem. The real problem might be your feeling of jealousy. What causes jealousy? Often it is feelings of inferiority. No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 22:39 (KJV) "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Once we love ourselves, we no longer feel the need to trash others. Once we read the Bible and let God lead our life, we no longer need to feel threatened when someone is better than us.
There is always someone better than you but God created each of us differently, we are perfectly imperfect because God wants us the see the perfect in Him.
No matter how much you suck in doing other things, there is still something that you can do better than others.
The best antidote to jealousy is to affirm your belief in God and that He has a purpose for you. As you let your soul find rest in Him, you will find that you compare yourself with others less and less.
