Jealous

I must confess that I’ve been jealous of others.  I’m not going to lie about it. I’ve been jealous of wealthy people.  I’ve been jealous of famous people, who became wealthy because of their fame. I’ve been jealous of wildly successful business people who had a great business concept that earned them millions. There’s probably a pretty thin line between jealousy and envy.  I have to confess – I’ve been both.  Asaph, David’s music guy shared some honest insight on this. Check this out….

 21 When my heart was sad

       and I was angry,

 22 I was senseless and stupid.

       I acted like an animal toward you.

 23 But I am always with you;

       you have held my hand.

 24 You guide me with your advice,

       and later you will receive me in honor.

 25 I have no one in heaven but you;

       I want nothing on earth besides you.

 26 My body and my mind may become weak,

       but God is my strength.

       He is mine forever.

 27 Those who are far from God will die;

       you destroy those who are unfaithful.

 28 But I am close to God, and that is good.

       The Lord God is my protection.

       I will tell all that you have done. (Psalm 73:21-28 NCV)

When this life is over, the balance in my checking account won’t matter to my eternity. My material possessions will immediately become the possession of a family member. My wealth won’t matter when it comes my time to meet the Lord.  What I do with my money now does reflect the depth of my faith in the Lord. I must learn to trust Him with EVERYTHING I have and everything I earn. I want to honor God with my possessions, my talents, my gifts – all of me.  When I focus on honoring God with who I am and all I have, there is not time to be jealous of others.

My Mom used to remind me to keep my own back yard clean and then I wouldn’t have time to worry about someone else’s back yard.

I don’t want to be jealous; I want to be faithful!

 

Pressing On!

Dwayne