Jealousy

            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.