“Why did I have to be born in the middle of summer?” It seemed every few weeks during school someone in my class was having a birthday. Now, this was all well and good for the kid whose birthday was being celebrated by the whole class but it surely was difficult when you knew yours would never be.
Back when I was in grade school, if someone had a birthday, the teacher let them be first in line at recess; first in the lunch line and always first in line at the water fountain after recess when everyone was dying of thirst. Not only that but some years the teacher had a special birthday crown the birthday kid got to wear all day. I have to admit that sometimes I had this awful urge to knock that crown right off “Birthday Kids” head.
Now to top it off, “Birthday Kid’s” mother always brought cupcakes and
kool-aid to be served the last period of the day. And, there were those
fancy birthday plates and cups for each kid. Oh, and napkins, of course,
were always matching. The treats were placed on a little table and
everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to the always smiling “Birthday Kid”.
And, I admit the cupcakes were always delicious when washed down with
strawberry kool-aid. The only problem was……….I wasn’t ever the
“Birthday Kid” or would I ever be during all those elementary years.
Jealousy in a child is very common; especially among siblings when one child feels the other is the parent’s favorite. Or, like in my case, jealousy is brought about when there is something you know you can’t have.
But what about jealousy in adults? It’s probably the leading cause of many of the problems we encounter every day. Jealousy happens in romantic relationships; work relationships, friendships and in families. Jealousy occurs in almost any human interaction in our world today.
The bible shares many stories about tragedies brought on by jealousy. King David killed Bathsheba’s husband because he was jealous and wanted Bathsheba for his own. Cain killed his brother Abel in a fit of jealous rage.
Each of us needs to examine our lives and see if we are harboring some kind of jealousy. If we are, we need to ask God to remove that from our hearts before we do something we are ashamed of. Our Christian witness can be damaged sometimes beyond repair because of jealousy.
“And by all means, don’t brag about being wise and good if you are bitter and Jealous and selfish; that is the worst sort of lie. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, inspired by the devil.” James 3:14-15 TLB
Jealousy in a child is very common; especially among siblings when one child feels the other is the parent’s favorite. Or, like in my case, jealousy is brought about when there is something you know you can’t have.
But what about jealousy in adults? It’s probably the leading cause of many of the problems we encounter every day. Jealousy happens in romantic relationships; work relationships, friendships and in families. Jealousy occurs in almost any human interaction in our world today.
The bible shares many stories about tragedies brought on by jealousy. King David killed Bathsheba’s husband because he was jealous and wanted Bathsheba for his own. Cain killed his brother Abel in a fit of jealous rage.
Each of us needs to examine our lives and see if we are harboring some kind of jealousy. If we are, we need to ask God to remove that from our hearts before we do something we are ashamed of. Our Christian witness can be damaged sometimes beyond repair because of jealousy.
“And by all means, don’t brag about being wise and good if you are bitter and Jealous and selfish; that is the worst sort of lie. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, inspired by the devil.” James 3:14-15 TLB
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