Jealousy and Your Future

Jealousy is heralded as a respectable sin. Don't we all have a little bit of jealousy people justify? No we do not.

God commanded us to not covet our neighbor's possessions in the 10 Commandments because he knew how destructive jealousy really is.

Jealous people tear others down with their words and try to kill people because of what they have. Harboring jealousy allows us to be used by Satan. James 3:14-15 says that it is demonic. I saw first-hand how an African witchdoctor recruited Christians and nonbelievers alike by telling them something about my future. He said, "Anyone of us can be used by the devil with a touch. It's something demonic in them that it attaches to."

Jealousy is listed as one of the signs of carnality in Galatians 5: 19-21. In essence, when we are jealous, we behave like demons and people who are living in darkness.

A Christian who exhibits jealousy is one that does not that they have a covenant with God and can claim their inheritance simply by asking God for what they want.

Jealousy also prevents us from fulfilling our destiny because we are so focused on the achievements and possessions of others that we neglect our own destiny. Joan Didion explains the root of all jealousy: "To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self," she said.

There is a growing trend of jealousy among parents because they compare their children with those of other people's. They are not happy because their children did not meet the expectations that they had hoped. In their jealousy, they resort to doing witchcraft on other people's children to prevent them from succeeding.

Sometimes, they become so focused on destroying others that it consumes all of their time. But, the irony is that they usually end up destroying themselves because their plans backfire. As a result, many promising children have become vagabonds.

While standing in front of my parent's bedroom during the week of April 8, I heard Piman Bouk, a Haitian radio disc jockey in Miami, Fl share an interesting story on his radio station, AM 1320. He told it in Kreyol, but I translated it for my blog.

He said that he saw a junkie and asked the junkie:
"What made you a junkie? Were you a junkie when you left Haiti?"
The junkie replied, "no."
Piman Bouk asked again, "Then how did you become a junkie?"
The junkie confessed, "Hating people turned me into a vagabond."

This story also shows that jealousy is one of the faces of hate. Proverbs 27:4 says that it is more dangerous than anger.

Jealousy also affects our health. Proverbs 14:30 says that jealousy causes our bones to rot. The New Living Translation of the same verse says that it is like cancer in the bones.

Solutions:

See jealousy for what it really is: demonic and a dissatisfaction with yourself.
Acknowledge that you are jealous.
Stop comparing yourself to other people.
Be thankful for your achievements.
Celebrate the accomplishments of others.
Focus on your own destiny.

Resources:

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

The Sin No One Talks About: Jealousy