Jealousy.
It’s something we’ve all experienced at one point or another and is generally regarded as something to avoid. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, patience, and…jealousy? Not quite.
But we also see glimpses of a “jealous” God throughout the Bible.
Early on in the Old Testament in Exodus 34:14, God says, “Do not worship any other God, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
In the Ten Commandments, God tells the Israelites, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Lastly, in John 2 is the story of Jesus going to Jerusalem and finding in the temple courts men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, animals necessary to the Jews for making sacrifices.
Jesus’ response: he makes a homemade whip, drives out the animals and forcefully flips over the tables of other men exchanging currencies.
The reason for Jesus’ anger is not simply that they were selling animals, for this was necessary to make sacrifices, but that they were doing so INSIDE of the temple, a place where people were supposed to be able to come and whole-heartedly worship God and Him alone.
Just as in the Old Testament passages from Exodus, at the root of Jesus’ anger and his jealousy is worship, rather, that something, whether false idols, other gods, or merchants, were preventing his people from worshiping Him fully.
All this to say that there is no doubt at least a little bit of jealousy within us all. After all, it says in Genesis that man is created in the image of God.
I have to admit that when I think of “jealousy,” I often think of sin, and it undoubtedly represents just that throughout much of the New Testament.
Jealousy is often to blame for problems in relationships, even why some partners may become hostile or abusive.
Jealousy may have even contributed to the crusades where thousands of people were killed in the name of Christianity because they thought that people could be forcefully converted. Their desire for people to know God was a righteous one, but their methodology certainly was not.
So if jealousy is at the root of so many terrible things, and if we are indeed created in the image of God and harbor jealousy ourselves, are we simply “stuck” with it and just have to prevent it from rearing its ugly head, or can we manifest it in God-honoring ways?
Let me suggest a new, slightly awkward phrase.
Righteous Jealousy.
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.” -2 Corinthians 11:2
Coincidentally, the word “jealous” found in Exodus translates to “jealousy only of God.”
Therefore, let me suggest that the glorification and worship of God and ONLY God MUST be the focus of our jealousy.
I wish I could wrap this up into a nice, neat box and tell everyone exactly what this means for their lives or how to live out a righteous kind of jealousy, but I have no idea.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul was worried that the church in Corinth would turn from the Gospel and the God that they knew and be lured into worshiping something or someone else, kind of like a wife being unfaithful to her husband and the covenant that they had made with each other upon marriage.
And in Ephesians 5, Paul tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, and Christ portrayed a JEALOUS love for His Church.
But how that plays out in a God-honoring way in a marriage relationship, I’m not sure.
And how we’re supposed to display jealousy in a righteous way when we feel burdened for people who are missing out on the blessing and abundant life of worshiping whole-heartedly a God who is full of grace, mercy, and love…I don’t know that either.
Here’s 2 Corinthians 11:2 again, this time from The Message:
“The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much – this is the passion of God burning inside me!”
God's jealousy stems from His deep, passionate, love for us.
We’re jealous because God has put this same characteristic inside of us and we’re jealous because we love people.
Act accordingly.
