Jealousy and Selfish Ambition

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As I mentioned on Sunday, seeing how our lives fit into God’s grand plan is challenging. It’s hard to see how God uses our successes and struggles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Part of this is due to a couple of things: 1) When we read our Bibles, we read about heroes and heroines. When we do this, we fail to realize that we don’t often see the “normal” folks who lived in towns/cities as breadmakers, cobblestone workers, or any other line of work. These were quiet, day-to-day people who loved Jesus, raised families and served their communities. If we’re not careful when we read our Bibles, we’ll miss that the “Pauls” of the Bible were uniquely called and commissioned by Christ as pioneers of the Christian faith. This doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them, but we must realize that not all are “Pauls.” 2) With this challenge can come an attitude that places guys like Paul or other “goers” or “leaders” as the “first-class” citizens in the Kingdom of God. We begin to buy into a “clergy” vs. “parishioner” mindset, or we think that the only people who do “real” ministry are those who do it vocationally. This does not jive with the New Testament’s portrait of ministry. Vocational pastors and missionaries are indeed important to the work of the gospel. But we are no more critical to that work than Christian loggers, accountants, or homemakers. We just have a different role and function (Ephesians 4:8-11).

So, when we have a complete biblical understanding of how God works, we see that He uses all of us, and He’s right in the middle of our successes and struggles to use those to advance His work. We want Christ to rule our hearts and rule over every aspect of this world. In order to do that, every Christian plays a part.

This means our response to losing loved ones plays a part. It also means our response to our successes plays a part. It means the raising of our children plays a part. It means how we live out our singleness plays a part. It means how we handle trials and struggles in this life plays a part.

Jealousy and Selfish Ambition

The study of Genesis has been good for my soul and the soul of our church. One of the areas that’s been good has been the warnings about jealousy and selfish ambition. It’s very interesting how often these issues arise in the Old Testament: In Genesis alone, we see Cain and Abel, Sarai and Hagar, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, and Joseph and his brothers. In other parts of the Old Testament history, you’ll see Miriam and Aaron being jealous of Moses and the sons of Korah doing the same. You’ll read of King Saul’s jealousy about David and David’s son, Absalom, selfishly taking the throne.

But the warnings don’t stop there. We see them in the New Testament. The disciples bickered over who would be the greatest. In the book of Acts, Paul felt a level of competition with the other apostles. And James warned that where jealousy exists, so does disorder and every evil thing.

So, that’s led me to ask myself some hard questions and inform our church of these dangers. Here are some questions I’ve tossed out and I’ve used to evaluate my heart:

Where do I find suspicious thoughts in my heart? Why are they there? Suspicious thoughts are when we accuse others of faulty/sinful motives when we don’t know all the facts.
Where am I sinfully comparing myself to others’ gifts, possessions, or place in life? Rather than being grateful and content, we find ourselves dissatisfied and grumbling with our “lot in life.”
Where do I crave the approval and acceptance of others and find myself angry when I don’t get it?
Where do I get angry when I don’t feel respected, listened to, or heard? Why am I angry? Is it truly justified and righteous? Have I falsely convinced myself?
Where do I quietly or subtly drop criticisms of others to make myself look good?
Where am I willing to manipulate God’s work by “forcing” or “conniving” to get what I want?

Finally, sociologists have been sounding the alarm about social media’s influence on our jealousy and contentment. I notice that the more I spend time on social media, the more I’m tempted by jealousy and sinful comparison. Sociologists have said that this constant level of comparison leads to discontentment, which leads to depression. So, if you’re having a tough time with these things, consider your social media intake, spend more time with close loved ones, and serve people for their benefit. As my wife would say, “Be where your feet are.”

Looking Ahead

This coming Sunday, we will study Genesis 30:25-31:55 as we look at how God provided for Jacob and His people. Also, this coming Sunday, we have a very exciting announcement regarding our Sunday gatherings and God’s provision.

From the Cheap Seats

Let me brag a little bit: this past Sunday, three members of CLF competed in and completed the Salem Triathlon. Kyle Wicks, Kayla Wicks, and Daniel Ritchey have done it! Wow! I simply have no words besides respect and amazement. It makes my 30-minute interval training look really puny😂😂😂…Congrats to all of you, and I hope you recover well. I’ve heard from Kyle that he is competing in the National Triathlon in Hawaii in October. That’s a huge deal.
For you Seattle Mariner fans: https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/40521107.
Check this scene out. A guy gives a young boy a ball. Then watch what happens: https://x.com/itsme_urstruly/status/1813596525253320976?s=12&t=ANRRmEDhNWbghelISD7Rvw
If you haven’t watched Jim Leyland’s Hall of Fame speech, go here and watch the last 3-5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGx7AFW7-9U