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I could see disaster written all over the situation I was watching play out and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing except pray for the person involved to reign in her emotions.
You see jealousy is one emotion that I don’t have patience or time for. That doesn’t mean that I don’t get to experience the emotional ups and downs when I see it negatively impact people I care about.
Some time ago during a great time of fellowship with a group of friends the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. It was one of those behind the scenes displays, but it nevertheless made its way around to most of us. Thankfully the one who was the target of the rude and unkind remarks has no clue any of this ever happened. I hope and pray we did everything we could to protect her from the vile thoughts, words and deeds of another.
I’m one of those people who believes in ‘All for One and One for All.’ This was clearly not the case. How many times have we heard these vengeful remarks and vow to ourselves to never let this kind of behavior overtake us?
And now a wonderful time together had instead turned into a time of disappointment, sadness and hurt.
Why do we let feelings of envy, insecurity and fear creep in and push us to the point of wanting to see another individual fail or fall down? Particularly a friend, family member or colleague we claim to love and care about.
We must always be on guard when it comes to feelings of destruction, discontent, and discord. And we must be extremely careful with thinking that it’s okay to treat people like this.
One thing about the evil one, we rarely see him coming. How clever Satan is when his ugliness finds his way into our heart. He causes us to doubt who we are, what we have and where we are headed in this life. He disguises himself as our friend and steals our joy and peace. He causes us to feel discontent and discord while leading us down a path of destruction. He wiggles his way into our hearts, prompting us to believe we deserve more than we have and convincing us that we will never be enough.
The prince of darkness plays his part well and his job is to defeat, destroy, and damage us. He works diligently to cause fear, insecurity, envy and anxiety, and he see’s this behavior as a victory.
But when we firmly plant our heart and soul in God’s word we know all of these negative attributes are lies. God tells us we belong to Him and He belongs to us. We are sinners saved only by His grace and we are of great worth in His eyes.
His word is clear when he tells us in James 3:16,”For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”
But we have a choice. Self-ambition can ruin us, but genuine humility is a reflection of our heavenly father. We have the choice to be grateful and thank Him for all He is doing in us and through us.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us ‘We are to rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’
It is so important to remember how blessed we are even in the midst of trials and struggles. One of my favorites things is to praise Him daily for all things; even the things that bring me up short. We are a work in progress. We are not perfect in this life, but we are to strive everyday to be more like Him.
So ask God to remove any hint of jealousy or unkindness you might have toward another person. He’s knows every inch of us, every thought we have and every action we take…..and He knows the outcome when we don’t think a situation through.
We will never be ALL we can be if we are dragging around baggage that leads us down a path of poor decisions and impactful consequences. Avoid letting yourself get in the way of ALL that God wants you to be. Let Him take the lead and continue to give thanks all along the journey.
Blessing to you this week!
Mitzi
Father God, I pray that we never let our feelings of discontent and discord do damage to another friends soul. I pray that we seek you at every turn to lead us through the valleys of doubt and despair, and we ask you to help us seek a heart of gratitude that is pleasing to you.
Amen.
‘When you can’t stop what’s happening around you’ first appeared on peacefullyimperfect.
This is so very true!
this is so very true!
This is a great word for all of us! As a woman, it is so difficult not to get into the comparison game, which is where jealousy lives and hides. I love to think of the day when we are all with Him and we see ourselves and each other the way He intended. What a joy it will be to ‘share’ in each others happiness without ANY envy. Until then, as sisters in Christ, we must fight to build each other up! We need each other!! Blessings to you and yours!!
It’s so easy to be drawn in to gossip or whatever those around us are doing. That’s why we have to ask the Holy Spirit to help us put a guard over our lips and over our hearts.