Love is NOT Jealous

So, here's a good one. We always find a way around saying that love is not jealous, because God is Love, right((1 John 4:8))? And God is a jealous God, right((Deuteronomy 6:15))? AND we need to be Christlike, right? Right. There's a difference between being Christlike and being God-like. We are called to be Christlike. That means like Jesus. Jesus walked on earth, had the same feelings and thoughts and situations that we do, and He lived a sinless life.

So, now that we know that jealousy is something that God can do because God deserves the praise and the glory and the honor from you. It's not something that He has to earn. That word "jealousy" in Greek is "zelos" and is only used with God. And...not to mention, HE DOESN'T HAVE ANYONE TO BE JEALOUS OF!!!!! (and in reality, He doesn't need our praise. Because, if we don't praise Him...He said that the rocks would. Rocks. Luke 19:40)

So now that we know that OUR green-eyed monster is NOT the same kind of jealousy as God has...let's take a look at how ridiculous we really look.

We always make fun of TV shows when stuff like this happens(ie. People start fighting over some guy/girl)...but we do the same thing. Even if we're not "dating" the person, we feel like we have some kind of right to deserve their attention. (And just cuz you ARE dating them does not make you exempt from the green-eyed monster sin. That's where TRUST comes in. I'll explain in a minute.) We really do look like High School Musical. I'm fairly certain that that does NOT look Christlike.

Wikipedia says that jealousy is the thought or feeling that occurs when a person thinks a valued relationship being "threatened" by a rival. The thing is, if both people value a relationship, then there should be a mutual trust. There shouldn't ever be any reason to be jealous because you trust the person. This violates the "Do not covet" commandment((Exodus 20:17)).

Now, just because we're not supposed to be jealous does not mean that it doesn't happen even to the best of us(and I mean BEST). Let's look at David. Son of Jesse, Shepherd...King of Israel. He had everything! Well...at least we thought he did. Along came Bathsheba...and BANG. He thought she was gorgeous....Bad news. She was married. Not only was she married, she was married to one of David's best soldiers. So what did David do? He decided to kill Uriah. Not straight out, of course. He was the king! So he put him in the front line of battle. He was killed almost immediately. So that left David open to take Bathsheba for himself. All this just cuz he was jealous of Uriah. ((2 Samuel 11-12))

It doesn't always have to be a "love" problem. Check out Joseph's life ((Starting in Genesis 30)). Joseph was daddy's favorite. He gave him a coat (of many colors) and all of the other brothers were jealous because of it. (I know that if I wasn't my dad's favorite, I would be mad at my siblings like they are at me...;) ) Well, they decided that they wanted to go ahead and sell Joseph as a slave. All because they were jealous of their baby brother.

Jealousy is found all throughout the Bible. And every time, the person who was jealous usually did not end up well. Cain and Abel((Genesis 4:2-17)) and even Satan and God((Isaiah 14:12-22))...Cain ended up wandering the desert and Satan...torments the earth. I mean, really.
Jealousy is something that we all have to deal with. Whether it be over a person or a position, it's still a sin, and sin separates us from God((Romans 6:23)). It's not worth it to be jealous of what someone else has, because when you're focused on God, then He's going to give you everything you need((Philippians 4:19))...So, really...you have nothing to be jealous of.