I’ve recently been preaching at my church on the life of
Joseph. It’s been a lot of fun. There’s a reason they made the story of Joseph
into a Broadway play. There is no lack of drama that’s for sure. Plenty of
human emotion too…. Like jealousy. I’m
sure many of you will recall the story.
Joseph is his father Jacob’s favorite, and he makes that fact well known
when he gives Joseph a special coat of many colors. Or my NIV translation says “a
richly ornamented robe.” Actually depending
on how it gets translated it may have been more of a plain white robe with long
sleeves that royalty would wear, but a coat of many colors sounds much more
interesting.
I can remember getting a pretty cool coat once. It was back in the early 80s when I got a “Members
Only” coat for Christmas. I was stylin
in that coat! But what if I had been
given that coat and my brother and sister received nothing? They might think
mom and dad were playing favorites. They’d probably be right. That was the case
for Joseph and his brothers. So often
the sin of one person can lead to the sin of another. In this case Jacob’s sin of favoritism leads
to Joseph’s brother’s sin of jealousy.
Jealousy; all sin is ugly but jealously perhaps
especially so. It can lead to things far worse. How many murders take place in
a fit of jealous rage? Joseph’s brothers came pretty close to it themselves.
They threw Joseph into a cistern and essentially left him there to die.
Eventually Judah came up with the idea of selling him into slavery instead.
What about you? Are you feeling jealous today?
Maybe it’s a co-worker who got the promotion ahead of you. Maybe it’s
over a friendship and you are jealous because one of your friends chooses to
hang out with someone else more than he or she does you. Maybe it’s the
neighbor with the immaculate lawn and sweet looking ride in the driveway. Or
would that one be envy? Envy and jealousy are kind of like close cousins. Often
it may start with envy and lead to jealousy. I have to admit as a pastor there
have been times when I’ve caught myself being envious of another pastor’s
church building or the size of their congregation. It’s in those times that I
try to remember Proverbs 14:30; A heart of
peace gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. A heart of
peace has to do with being content. The apostle Paul was in chains in prison
when he wrote in Philippians that he was content in all things. Paul’s
surroundings did not matter because his peace was a state of his heart. That
sure beats the alternative; bones rotting. Essentially that means our envy or
jealousy can lead to some pretty unhealthy stuff. Life is just too short to be
envious or jealous. Enjoy what you have and who God created you to be and know
that all good things come from Him.
