Years ago I heard someone
define jealousy has “having the belief
that someone has an unfair advantage over you”. When I thought about the
times that I have felt jealousy towards someone that is what it boiled down to
every single time. Somehow I felt that life circumstances, or God had given
them an advantage that I didn’t have.
I have learned that the only
people who have any kind of advantage over anyone else are the ones who simply
put God first. HE is the only advantage
that any of us can really have. If we have an advantage over someone else it is
only because we are taking advantage of Him while others are not. It’s not that
God likes them and dislikes you or likes them more than He likes you. His love
is no greater toward one than it is another. God has no respect of person. What He has
offered to one, He has offered to all, which is Himself. The issue is that all
will not take advantage of what He has offered.
We are often so busy people
watching that we become offended by other’s success or happiness. We tend to focus on what others are doing or
accomplishing, and not who has helped them to do or accomplish it. We look at
what people have and it causes us to feel that somehow God made them better
than us. Because our focus is on people and not God some of us have trained
ourselves to believe that in order to get what we want we have to take
advantage of and use each other for our own purposes. Meanwhile, the one who has fully and freely
given Himself to us for this very purpose sits by, unused. His heart breaks for
us while we hit one brick wall after another, fall into one pit after another, lose
one good relationship after another, whether it be friend, business, or
romantic. His heart breaks for us while we sit and do nothing, feeling sorry
for ourselves because we have taken the success of someone else to mean that we
are not capable of success.
If everything you need is
placed in front of you, and everything I need is placed in front of me, I can’t
feel slighted or overlooked because you take advantage of what’s in front of
you while I don’t do the same with what’s in front of me. I cannot allow my
fascination with what’s going on with you, to override my fascination with discovering
and walking in all He has created me to be. There are advantages in God, but He
has given no one an unfair advantage.
He has simply offered Himself to all of us. Those who take advantage of Him and
all that comes with Him will reap the benefits. Those who do not take advantage
of Him will not see the manifestation of many things that they desire, can
imagine in their hearts, and even some things that He has spoken, because some
things that God has spoken require some action or obedience on your part.
What I’m about to say may
taste bitter in your mouth, but will be sweet in your belly if you receive it. When
you do feel that the Lord is extending favor to another and not to you..when
you feel that He is slipping them helpful notes under the table right in front
of you...when you feel that He is sharing secrets of success with them that He
is not sharing with you…it could be that that’s exactly what’s happening! If you consider the fact that He has made
Himself available to them as well as to you, and they have taken advantage of
it and you have not, what would you expect? Would you honestly expect their
life and their outcomes to look like yours? That
my friend is what would be unfair and unjust of God! He has promised that those
who seek Him will find Him. He has promised that if we call unto Him He will
show us great and mighty things that we don’t even know about yet. He has
promised that when we have searched for Him with all our hearts we will find
Him. He has promised that while we are yet speaking, He will answer us. He has
even told us that He is able to exceed our wildest dreams. So if you are seeing
nothing great, receiving no answers to prayers, have not seen any expectations
exceeded then it is time to take an honest look at yourself and what it is that
you could have taken advantage of but for whatever reason chose to ignore.
The truth about jealousy is
that it is an after- the-fact smoke screen. Although it has been known to be
the cause of horrible things, it’s more of an affect than it is a cause. It is
a result of your blurred vision and lack of understanding of how God operates
and who you really are in Him. It comes into play after you have passed up
opportunities to take advantage of the fact that you have a God you can pray to
and receive answers. If you didn’t feel
that someone had an unfair advantage over you, and if you took the time to seek
after God to find out who He created you to be and what His plan is for your
life, jealousy wouldn’t be an issue. If
you allowed Him to reveal to you all the wonderful gifts and abilities He
placed in you, you would never feel that someone else has more or better to
offer than you do. You would not measure what you think is great favor on them
by what you feel you are lacking. You
would be too busy enjoying the life that He has ordained for you to live. So
what do you say? How about we get busy
enjoying that life that God has ordained for us to LIVE!
