An Envious Heart

It’s easy to be jealous, isn’t it? Somebody will give me a tape of another preacher and say, "Alan, you’ve got to hear this guy. He’s fantastic!" Well, my first inclination, once I begin listening to the tape, is to say, "He’s not bad, but I’ve heard better." But if he’s really good, it’s hard for me to handle, because sometimes ego gets in the way. Now there are a lot of men that are better preachers than I am -- I just don’t listen to their tapes. No, that’s not true, but you understand what I’m talking about, don’t you? It’s very difficult to rejoice over somebody who does exactly what you do, but does it better.

I remember when I was a kid, I played second base for a Little League team. I was on the first string (although for the life of me I can’t remember why). But one week, my family went on vacation. When we got back, I found that I had been replaced. The second string kid was short, but in the game that was played while I was away, he had made a fantastic catch, so he re¬placed me. You find yourself thinking a lot of terrible things in a situation like that as you sit on the bench. You want him to flub up and commit errors. Even worse, you wish that he would break his leg or something. Jealousy causes us to say and do terrible things, but it’s something we can all relate to, isn’t it?

And jealousy seems to be one of those sins that can tempt us no matter how much we grow as a Christian. An old story is told about Satan’s agents who were trying to tempt a holy man who lived as a hermit in the desert of northern Africa. Every attempt they made had met with failure. So Satan, angered with the incompetence of his subordinates, became personally involved in the case. He said, "The reason you have failed is that your methods are too crude for one such as this. Watch this."

He then approached the holy man with great care and whispered softly in his ear, "Your brother has just been made bishop of Alexandria." Instantly, the man’s face showed that Satan had been successful. A great scowl formed over his mouth and his eyes tightened up. And Satan said, “Envy is often our best weapon against those who seek holiness.” The story is just a fable, but I think it makes a good point.

II. Jealousy in the Bible

As we go through the Bible, it’s surprising how many sins are connected with jealousy. The first sin in the Bible involved the sin of jealousy. In Genesis 3:5, Satan encouraged Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and said, "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He said, in essence, "Eve, wouldn’t you like to be like God?" And Eve must have thought, "Yeah, I sure would. Why should he be the only one with the knowledge of good and evil? I don’t want to be left out. I want to be like God!"

The next sin we read about in the Bible is murder. Cain killed Abel. Why? Because he was jealous -- jealous of God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacri¬fice over his own.

Remember Sarah and Hagar. Abraham and Sarah were promised a child. They got tired of waiting, so Sarah said to Abraham, "Why don’t you take my slave-girl Hagar as your wife and maybe you can have a child together." So, Abraham did and Hagar conceived. After she doid, she began to look at Sarah with disdain. "I’m going to have a baby and you’re not!" And that created jealousy toward Hagar from Sarah.