Has jealousy ever driven you to say and do things that you are not proud of?

When I was a young girl, my best friend and I had a lot in common.  We were the same age, we loved to talk, and we had a favorite older friend.  This friend was the one we looked up to because she had the prettiest clothes, the trendiest toys, and she always had bubble gum.  In other words, she was cool and we wanted to be just like her.  As much as my best friend and I adored each other, you wouldn’t know it by the way we treated each other when our cool friend arrived.  Suddenly, we were pushing and shoving each other so that we could sit next to our friend, arguing over who sat next to her last time, and ultimately, growing jealous of the one who finally won the fight.  Sadly, we were willing to allow this division in our relationship if that meant we could be near our fabulous friend.  That’s a lot of drama over one friend!

In Genesis chapter 30, we see a similar struggle between sisters Rachel and Leah.  Rachel was jealous of Leah because Leah could bear children while Rachel could not.  Leah was jealous of Rachel because their husband Jacob loved Rachel more.  In Rachel’s jealousy, she became dramatic in how she spoke to Jacob and when he succumbed to her demand, Rachel’s response was, “I have won.”  When Leah saw that, she made a similar demand of him.  But did either of them really win?

In each of these scenarios, the females involved were jealous of each other because one had something that the other wanted.  What’s a girl to do in such a situation? We need to pray and ask for God’s help to overcome this struggle.  Then, we need to declare Scripture reminding ourselves that A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” (Proverbs 14:30).  Remember that love is not jealous.  Finally, walk in the fruit of the Spirit.  

Those childhood memories made me realize that the envy we each had was destroying relationships which meant a lot.  Thank God for His revelation and thank God our friendship survived such a challenge.

Friends, I pray that the words and actions in our relationships are life giving and reflect God’s love.

~Joyce

*Photo from Canva

by joyce

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