45 - Spiritual Jealousy

Have you ever watched God work powerfully through someone else, and instead of being happy for that person, you felt frustrated? You wished it could have been you. As those feelings rushed over you, you probably tried to explain to yourself why such things could never happen to you. You may have blamed it on your appearance or intelligence or sinful past or bad decisions made when you were younger. The result was that you convinced yourself to lower your expectations. God would never work that powerfully through someone like you. If you have thought such thoughts, you may have noticed that another emotion came along with them: anger…at the person God was blessing, but also, if you are able to admit it, at God Himself. It all seems so unfair. It appears that God must be just like everybody else, He has His favorites, and you’re not one of them. As the emotions surge, you wish you could punish somebody, but you can’t punish God. Yes, you can withdraw from Him and claim to be an atheist, but that doesn’t heal the wound of feeling like a failure. So you turn your anger on the person. In whatever way you can you try to hurt them. Now, let’s watch this spiritual jealousy in action.