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The Cruelty of Jealousy

Posted April 4, 2010 by Renee Brown

In today’s blog entry I’d like to continue my exploration of the spirit of jealousy by focusing on its cruel nature.  The bible states, “for love is strong as death and jealousy is cruel as the grave” Song of Solomon 8:6.  Although the spirit of jealousy is not always easily identifiable, a jealous person is often very cruel to the person of which he/she is jealous (for no apparent reason). Jealous people tend to work behind the scenes by negatively influencing the opinion of others.  In other words, they are often backbiters.

 Jealousy is not only cruel to its victim; it is also cruel to the person it embodies. “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones,” Proverbs 14:30. I believe people who are jealous actually hurt themselves more than their victims.  Envy, which is the most intense and cruel form of jealousy, literally rots the spirit.  It causes one to obsess over the advantage of another person.  Think about it.  A jealous person has no peace because he/she is consumed with worrying about his/her victim; that in and of itself is misery.

When I was younger and immature, I use to love making other people jealous of me.  It actually made me feel good to know someone was loosing sleep over me. I was on a major ego trip but God got me in check.  When I started living for Christ and studying the word of God, I realized how wrong it is to rejoice over another person’s weakness.  It is equally wrong to intentionally provoke a person to jealousy.  “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another,” Galatians 5:26.

Maybe you are going through a situation in which you are being treated wrongfully due to jealousy.  I want to encourage you to pray for the person who is jealous of you. Ask the Lord to help you to continue to love him/her. Perhaps, you take joy in the fact that someone is jealous of you.  I encourage you to ask God for forgiveness and lay aside your pride and pray for that person. If you are reading this article and you have jealousy in your heart against someone, please don’t deny it.  Just be honest with yourself and repent to God and ask him to give you a clean heart and take away the spirit of jealousy.  He loves you and he wants to set you free from anything that’s holding you back from being the person he designed you to be.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10