Prevent The Jealousy

Before I begin, I want to thank Jordan and Sarah for guest posting on my blog this past week! I loved both of your posts and it was a lot of fun to guest post on your blogs as well! I loved having guest posts, however, I am happy to come back and start blogging on my own blog. I have started to only post what will get others viewers attention...but I want to go back and focus on blogging on what makes me happy :) 

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Do any of you struggle with jealousy? Nothing good comes out of jealousy, only broken relationships and walls built between friendships. Here are a few of the top things people become jealous about…and how you can prevent that jealousy from destroying you! I'm not an expert, but I have found a few things from God's word that I think can help everyone that struggles with jealousy.

1.     I wish I looked like her.

 Isaiah 45:9 says “Does the clay to say to the potter, ‘what are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands?”

Do we have the right to ask God what he has made? The creator of the universe created us for HIS glory, and not our own. I battled with this type of jealousy for a really long time, but then I came across this verse, and two other points that really helped. 

First, even if we thought we were absolutely gorgeous all the time, wouldn't that only lead to selfish ambition?

Secondly, God doesn't care about the outside of our bodies as much as he cares about our spiritual condition.

Now, please don’t take this the wrong way! It is a wonderful thing to feel pretty, but we need to be satisfied in whom we are in Christ and then we can feel good about ourselves all the time! I still struggle with this on certain occasions when I don’t feel good about myself, but I have to remember that these thoughts are only going to lead to jealousy and selfish ambition, and they are not honoring to the Lord that created me. 

2.     I wish I had what she has

When we want more of something, more is never enough. Try it! Buy a bunch of new clothes and then about two weeks later, you’ll want more. Jealousy doesn’t end after you get think you want, because that isn’t really want you want.

I read a book called “Made To Crave” and I definitely recommend it. When you want something to fill you up, and to make you as happy as the other girls are that have those things, you really are craving a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now this is the same way with the first point, there is nothing wrong with buying new clothes and shoes so that you can feel pretty, but you must be content with what the Lord has given you.

You must be able to be happy and serve the Lord, even if you don’t get everything that you want…because otherwise it is a ME focused point of view.

Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

When you read from the word of God, you will find a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, which is what our heart is really craving for.

3.     I wish I had a relationship with a guy just like that girl does.  

If you read number 3 and think "that is totally me!" you and I would be similar in many different ways.
God has taught me a lot in this area through specific guys that he has put in my life to do so.
Especially over this past summer (and I've never really mentioned it on here), God used a specific person in my life that I thought was truly amazing. Because I couldn't look past the looks and the characteristics I thought were good (and they probably were!), I couldn't see the things that I would be settling for and how that person wouldn't be a spiritual leader.
Even though a lot of my friends told me that he wasn't someone I should waste my time on and that it was kind of stupid for me since he was two years older and very much not on my "level", I didn't really listen.
Two of the top lessons I learned were:

1. Listen to what your friends say about these kinds of things
2. Don't start even consider about getting in a relationship with someone else if your relationship with Jesus Christ isn't the biggest thing in your life. 

So how do we not become jealous of other people? When we truly know who we are in Christ, we can feel confident in who we are in him. You hear this phrase a lot but it's very much true! 
But that doesn't mean that every person that you meet is a waste of time. Truly this friendship with this guy wasn't a waste of time because it taught me a lot of valuable lessons so that I don't get hurt later on. And, in fact, I still have a friendship with him, even though I wouldn't consider him like my older brother (like my older cousin is to me). 
You can't get into a relationship until you are so confident in who you are in Christ that it doesn't depend on who or who isn't in your life for you to be happy! 
Why don’t we embrace our years as a single, being content in whatever situation God has put us in, and use it as a time to get closer to our Lord Jesus Christ? Then He can put a godly Christian man in your life so that both of you can live to further his kingdom.

Isn't that a beautiful thought? Someday a relationship can be *the other person focused* and *God centered* so that even if the relationship doesn't work out, it still could have glorified God and taught one another to love as Christ loves the Church.

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I hope a few of these points are helpful and encourage you in your faith!
If you have any other comments please comment below :)