The Power of Jealously

Envy is corrupted jealousy. The Greek and Latin background of envy comes from, "to look upon with evil." 

But jealousy is actually meant to be a powerful gift. It shares its root with the word zeal, meaning, "to burn with fervor." We are meant to look upon our future, our dreams, our inheritance and jealousy pursue & protect them. We do this mainly by positioning ourselves to become the kind of people who can achieve and steward the success we hope for.

But envy is to look upon another person's inheritance, another person's story and burn with fervor to have what is theirs. The unfortunate thing is even if you were to have it you would not ultimately enjoy it for it can never be truly yours since it was meant to be theirs.

What you receive as a gift, you and the giver protect. It is born of relationship.

But what you take, you are left to protect on your own.

To take something that belongs to another is to despise your own inheritance. To try to live out the story of another is to despise your own story. If only we believe the greatness of what God has prepared for us, we would never be caught up in such trifles as envy of others. Paul described it as, "things which no one has even dreamed God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). Yet if we envy others, we deny ourselves the things that God intended to be truly ours.

John the Baptist said it like this, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” John 3:27 NASB. John jealously pursued and protected the story of God for his life when he said, "I am not the Messiah," v28. And because of this he was able to say, "...this joy of mine has been made full" v29. By living this way, jealously pursuing and protecting our own stories, we will position ourselves to celebrate others as they pursue and protect their own stories. Because John lived his own story with joy, he could look at Jesus as He lived out His own story and say of Him, "He must increase, but I must decrease" v30.

So be jealous for your own story and live it our with joy. Be careful to give envy no place in your heart, lest you lose not only what is rightfully another's but also that which is rightfully yours!