Have you ever felt jealous? You know, your friend is delighted that her child got a full ride to Harvard and your child is struggling in remedial math. Or someone who is not nearly as holy as you are just got their breakthrough and you have been struggling for years. Does jealousy ever rise up in you. Do you feel yourself asking God, “Why not me Lord?”
Yesterday, I am having a perfectly beautiful morning in the Lord. I am meditating on the blessings I received over the weekend. I am thanking God for His goodness and His faithfulness in my life and then BAM! I read something and I find myself feeling jealous.
As I have shared before, I have overcome a spirit of rejection and jealousy is a fruit of that spirit. So when I felt the pull to be envious of another, I knew immediately what I needed to do.
1. Refuse to partner with envy. As soon as jealousy rears it’s ugly head in my thoughts, I recognized the thought is not my thought. I am not jealous. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I took captive that thought and made it obedient to the truth – “I am loved by God and I lack no good thing.”
2. Remind myself that God is BIG. His resources are unlimited. Someone else’s blessing is a reminder to me what God is capable of doing in my life. So another person’s blessings is an invitation for me to hope, to anticipate what God will do next for me, to believe I will see His goodness in the land of the living.
3. Remember God has a personalized plan for me. I need to trust God knows what is best for me and as I trust Him it shall come to pass.
My friends, I am a witness that envy can steal your joy and your peace. It is a tactic of the enemy to bring disunity into the Body of Christ. If you have been partnering with envy, no condemnation. But today is a good day to break free of its clutches. Today is a good day to break ties with the spirit of envy and meditate on the goodness of God.
Remember who you are. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
“But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
Psalm 73:2-3 NIVWe