Wednesday 14 September 2016

On the Way to the Palace 9- Considering Jealousy

“Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him;” –Acts 7:9 CJB Complete Jewish Bible

“And the patriarchs, having become-jealous-of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. And God was with him”-Acts 7:9  DLNT, Disciple’s Literal New Testament

“Then the wrong in his heart makes him do the wrong thing. And the wrong thing he has done leads to death”- James 1:15 WE Worldwide English

 These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to the death penalty from God”.-James 1:15-TLV Today’s Living Version

“Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer”- James 1:15 MSG The Message .

As long as we remain on this side of heaven, there will always be opportunities to become jealous of someone else as there will always be someone better, wiser, richer, prettier and an endless list if we choose to foolishly compare( 2 Corinthians 10:12).And since this is a temptation common to all, it is therefore wise for us to find out what really makes us jealous of another?

I will still like to draw mainly from the writings of Selwyn Hughes especially as he did a very good work on this topic. According to him, one of the reasons for jealousy is expectations. There is a certain level of expectation that the society at large could put upon us that may ultimately influence our views of ourselves and our accomplishments.
Joseph’s brothers probably expected some amount of affection from their father and seeing it all  lopsided to Joseph did not go down too well with them(Genesis 37:3-4).

A second reason for jealousy could be a feeling of inferiority. This could be subtle and one that the man on the way to the Palace needs to guard against. Whenever Joseph wore his coat of many colours around the house, it probably  made his brothers feel inferior to him in a way and this eventually provoked jealous(Genesis 37:3-4). The coat of many colours which Joseph wore was usually worn only by royalty and  heir apparent.

The third and possibly the main reason for jealousy according to Selwyn Hughes is an insecure self. When we are unable to appreciate the uniqueness of our own being  and personality, then it is easy for us to become jealous of others. It takes a level of security to acknowledge and applaud the achievements and giftedness  of others. The seeds of jealousy thrive easily in the grounds of the heart of a person who does not have or has little self worth.

But becoming jealous of another does not usually happen overnight. With determined consistency, evil thoughts can invade our hearts and would require a counter action not to allow them breed and develop. While it is not a sin for these evil thoughts to invade our hearts, the issue comes when we allow them to dwell there as eventually they will  then determine our actions(James 1:15).               

There may be other reasons for jealousy but if we are to deal with this destructive emotion , we must first  be able to admit that we have been bitten  successfully by its poisonous sting. If we are in denial of this fact, then there is very little chance that we can correct it.  

Denial of this emotion will also render the making of excuses possible. We could put on a facade while this cancerous monsters eats us within. The man on the way to the Palace must guard against jealousy but when he realizes he has been bitten by her stings, must be able to admit this and take the necessary steps out of jealousy.

In our next post, we will consider steps out of jealousy.

Yours in His Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

Tuesday 13 September 2016

On the way to the Palace 8-Joseph's Brothers' Jealousy

Joseph has now been given a coat of many  colours by  his earthly father and two dreams by his heavenly father(Genesis 37;3,5,9). This triad combination made him the right candidate for his brothers’ jealousy(Genesis 37:11).
Within the space of seven verses, the writer of Genesis records the hatred and  jealousy of Joseph’s brothers towards him (Genesis 37:4-11). 

Jealousy is one of the troublesome emotions of this life which the man on the way to the palace must deal with from time to time. As long as we reside on this side of heaven, there will always be plenty of opportunities  to become jealous  as there will always be someone out there better than us in as many areas as we can think of, especially when we make the erroneous choice to  compare( 2 Corinthians 10:12).      

One could say that Joseph’s brothers  were dealing with sibling rivalry  which shows a pattern for jealousy. Those who are close to us are not spared from the pangs of jealousy. We usually do not get jealous of strangers (we find it easier to admit to their superiority) but would most likely struggle to applaud our immediate circle, be it family, friends, co-workers or even church members.

Jealousy spans all areas of life and  affects all strata of people. No one is immune  from the temptation to be jealous neither is jealous  restricted to physical things such as wealth, beauty, but opportunities, privileges and even spiritual gifts and success in ministry as well. The neighbourhood preacher is most likely to be jealous of a fellow new kid on the block preacher who comes into town and has his congregation triple in size in a couple of months than the TV Evangelist who is a world wide figure..Yes the octopus like legs of  jealousy could also reach spiritual things. Paul confirms this by telling us that some people were preaching the gospel out of strife  and jealousy(Phillipians 1:15).

There are actually two kinds of jealously, one that is good and healthy as seen in the case of God being jealous towards us and wanting u not to have any idols before him( Exodus 20:5 ).The kind of jealousy we see exhibited by Joseph’s brothers is the green-eyed monster. The man on the way to the Palace is one who knows how to handle jealousy and not be swallowed by the green eyed monster.

So what is Jealousy? I have read several definitions but I think I prefer the answer given by one  of my most beloved mentors Selwyn Hughes of blessed memory who wrote Every Day with Jesus daily devotional  faithfully for over forty years.

According to Selwyn; “Jealousy is the feeling of coldness & resentment that sometimes stirs in our heart when another is praised-somebody with whom we matched ourselves in thought and to whom we imagined ourselves to be superior. It is the thing that takes the heart out of the congratulations we feel obliged to give; that keeps us silent when we hear people unfairly criticized,that makes us glad when they stumble or fall”.
 I describe it as the  pit like feeling we get when we hear about the success of another. Somewhere at the back of our minds, we wish that the congratulatory messages they received is showered on us instead. According to our standards, they are not as good as people have acknowledged and when presented with an opportunity, we may be quick to share their faults.This sometimes leads to gossip and slander.

The poison of jealousy is one that could sometimes create irrevocable damage if left unchecked as we see  in the life of Joseph brothers. These evil thoughts rather than being resisted became a permanent fixture in their hearts which eventually led to evil actions.
The man on the way to the Palace must guard against jealousy and we would explore more on this in our next post.

Yours in His Service

Grace Tom-Lawyer.