How to overcome jealousy?

Jealousy is a physiological characteristic. 1 Corinthians 3: 1-3 tells us that there are at least two kinds of people in the church: one is spiritual and the other is physical. What is carnal desire? This is for the baby in Christ. Although these people have been saved, they are very young in spirit, and like babies, they know nothing. What about personal experience? There are no good things in the body, such as pride, jealousy, struggle, greed, famine, drunkenness, fornication, evil thoughts and so on. All come from the body (Gal. 5: 19 ~ 2 1,24). Paul particularly emphasized that jealousy and struggle are the characteristics of the body. Some people say, "Pride and jealousy are twin brothers. A proud person, usually jealous of others, thinks himself great, others are not as good as himself, and does not allow others to be better than him; People who are jealous are not pleasing to the eye when they see others being good, and think that only they deserve it, and no one else deserves it. Where there is pride, there must be jealousy; Where there is jealousy, there is pride. Chapter 1 Corinthians 13-8 is the most detailed about love, and there are seven positive explanations for the word love: what is love; Nine negative explanations: love is nothing. The first negative explanation is "love is not jealousy". Jealousy is the fastest response based on selfishness. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy, because God accepted Abel's sacrifice, but not his. He killed Abel because he was jealous of him. Solomon wrote the Song of Songs. In the eighth chapter, he described love and hate symmetrically. He said, "Love is as strong as death, and jealousy is as cruel as the grave" (Song 8: 6). Love and jealousy are opposites. Proverbs also tell us that jealousy is rot in the bones (Proverbs 14: 30). It can be seen how terrible jealousy is; How painful jealous people are. Why do people get jealous? There are several typical examples in the Bible for us to find out the causes and countermeasures of jealousy. Jealousy often comes from pain and loss. Genesis chapter 30, sections 1 to 8. The background of this story is that Leah and Rachel are brother and sister, married to Jacob, and Leah is prolific. Rachel was beautiful but barren, so Rachel was jealous of Leah. Rachel is jealous because she has no children and others don't like her, so she is jealous and wishes she had them. This typical example illustrates the principle that jealousy comes from pain and loss. Being a Christian shouldn't be like this, but we all have Rachel's jealousy to some extent. When Rachel saw that she had no children, she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I will die. However, Jacob said a very precious sentence: "It is God who makes you infertile. Can I be the host instead of him? " ? Jacob means that it is God's business to have children, not men's business, because children are God's inheritance (Ps. 127-3). If God doesn't give it to you, people won't have this inheritance. He gives more and receives more. He gave you many children and many responsibilities. If I don't give it to you, you will save money and have no burden. Jacob's words, we can expand the scope and say: money, degree, career, love ... and so on, whatever you want, it is God who keeps you from getting these things. Can I be the master instead of him? These are the words of those who fear God. Such people are not proud or jealous. I have nothing to be proud of; No, there's no need to be jealous, because it's all about God. God gave it to you, but he didn't; Give you more, give you less, you are all amen. When we face the problem of gain and loss, we should remember this principle provided by James, so we don't have to be jealous. We are jealous because we are ignorant; Because we don't understand God's will, there is no need for lust, pride and jealousy. The Lord said, "Whatever my heavenly father has planted must be uprooted" (Mt 15: 13). If it is not given by God, even if people use methods and means to get it, it will be futile in the end. Out of jealousy, Rachel did everything she could to get Jacob to sleep with Bilhah, her maid. As a result, the child got it, but it was not perfect. Bilhah bore her two children, one named Dan and the other named Naphtali. "Dan" means revenge; Naphtali means competition. As the name implies, there is no witness! The purpose of having children is not to respect God and benefit others, but to avenge oneself and fight with others. How pathetic! On the contrary, Samuel's mother Hannah had no children. She went to the temple to pray, and God listened to her prayer and gave her a child, Samuel. Samuel means prayer. Hannah had no children, so she called on God, and God gave it to her, and she gave what she got from God to God. This is the real dedication. We give not because we have anything to give to God, just as believers give money. Remember, you have nothing to give to God. Yes, the money you donated was earned by your hard work, not by corruption and fraud, but where did your heart come from? God gives you strength, health, wisdom and job opportunities. In the final analysis, everything comes from the grace of God. In that case, it is natural for us to dedicate ourselves to God, and there is nothing to boast about. The time has come, and God gave birth to Rachel. As a result, the child was born and he died. If she has no children, maybe she can survive on the ground for a while. In fact, children's gains and losses have nothing to do with joy and shame. Eli the priest had two sons, one named Hophni and the other named Phinehas. These two precious sons killed Eli. It can be seen that children often become the burden of parents. Hezekiah, the best king in the Book of Kings, was dying and cried out to God. God gave him fifteen years of life and gave birth to a son, Manasseh. Manasseh is the worst of all kings. Father is the best and son is the worst. If Hezekiah had not sought to prolong his life without Manasseh, his personal record would have been more innocent. Therefore, gains and losses should not be the reason for our jealousy. Yes, thank god; No, praise God. Everything comes from God, so don't be jealous. Jealousy comes from being narrow-minded. Numbers 1 1: 24-30 says that Moses set up seventy elders to share his work, rule the people and serve God together. Two of them, one named Elida and the other named Meda, did not come to Moses with the crowd at that time, but the Holy Spirit poured down, but these two people were affected like 68 other recorded people. Joshua was jealous when he saw it, so he suggested that Moses forbid them to talk. Moses rebuked Joshua and said, "Are you jealous of others for my sake? Joshua was jealous of others not for himself, but for Moses. Although the motivation is not too bad, the heart is too narrow and not generous enough. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God gave him a generous heart. A wise man does not necessarily have a broad mind; But a broad heart must have wisdom. Why is a person narrow-minded? Because he has no wisdom and can't see what he can't see; What he sees is too small to see the mystery of God's will and secret, so people are selfish, narrow-minded and jealous. God has given his church all kinds of gifts. Everyone should make good use of the gifts God has given him and serve each other, which is worthy of serving. Holding a gift high in the church may make you jealous of other gifts. For example, ordinary believers are most likely to hold high those who stand on the podium. Some people say that the podium is the most important. Without it, people can't hear the Tao, and the channel comes from hearing the Tao. Don't talk, don't listen; Don't listen, don't believe; If you don't believe, you can't be saved, so the podium is the most important. On the surface, it seems right, but can a podium be turned into a church? The church is the body, and brothers and sisters are the limbs. If a face has only one mouth and nothing else, what can it look like? The mouth cannot represent the body; A podium cannot represent the whole church, but it needs brothers and sisters. The truth of the church is that everyone serves and builds the body of Christ with all the gifts they have received, so that everyone can be one in truth. Therefore, we should not hold a gift high. In the church, of course, we should not envy others for ourselves, nor should we envy others for some people. In the middle of the church, I hope everyone can do what I can. What I can't do, I hope someone can do it and make up for my shortcomings. I hope someone can do better than me to glorify God. What I do well, I long for someone to do better than me, so that God will feel honored. I believe this is a principle that pleases God, and we should all accept it. If you accept this principle, you can overcome jealousy. We really need a big heart so that we can find ourselves for the Lord. We are often lost and confused ourselves. Broad-minded, not jealous of others, will naturally find themselves for the Lord. Jealousy is also the last cause of jealousy because of the injustice of the wicked. Look at Psalm 37: 1-5. Here, we are encouraged not to be jealous of the wicked and those who are unjust. The so-called wicked people are Gentiles who forget God. 9: 17). Why are you jealous of the wicked? Because I see how many people who don't believe in the Lord, eat, drink and be merry, get promoted and get rich, and become rich in the world, as if they had everything and everything was fine. It is inevitable to ask a question mark in my heart: "Why? Because the world itself is crooked and absurd, people who don't believe in God are also deceitful and unjust; A deceitful and unjust person can only adapt everywhere if he lives in a crooked and absurd world, and will naturally go hand in hand with others. When Christians are weak, they look at the world much better than us. We have poverty, burdens, crosses, diseases and all kinds of difficulties, so we envy the wicked, but he forgets that there will be the judgment of the wicked in the future and it will be our glory. Usually, we have two attitudes towards jealousy. One is that if you do more injustice, you will die. If they survive, it is because God's time has not yet come. As the second verse says, "They are about to be cut off like grass and wither like vegetables. However, this is always too negative. This is the spirit of the legal era, not enough for training. Today in Times of Grace, the Lord died for us. The Lord set an example of self-sacrifice and encouraged us to love our enemies. Although these wicked people persecute you and deal with you, you will be cheated, but don't be jealous of him. God wants to put a wicked man in front of you. This is a lesson you have to learn. Be kind to God, treat him with the love of the Lord, save him, and save him like firewood in the fire. This is our work for the Lord, and we must never give up. You say he is evil today, then you are not evil that day. You're just a wicked man with grace. Why don't you bring the wicked to God today to get grace? So let's not be jealous of the wicked. Only when we pray for them with love before the Lord, this is our proper attitude. The Lord Jesus was crucified because Jews were jealous of him (Matt. 27 18). But on the cross, the Lord finally gave a witness that he was not jealous of the wicked and said, "Father! 」