A Woman to Woman Article
Rejoice in One Another’s Blessings
Proverbs 8:32 says, “Blessed are they who keep My Ways.” It is wonderful how this righteous Way of life brings many blessings from God. This verse in Proverbs is a promise that will be fulfilled by God when we live to please Him continually. John 10:10 says that Jesus Christ came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. Yes, He came to give us the truth on how to live each day. By living His Way, we are blessed abundantly.
As we live this special Way every day, different areas of our nature will pop up that we will need to overcome. In Galatians 5:19-21, it describes our human nature. In this article, I will not list all the deeds of the flesh, but rather point out two that each one of us needs to be aware of and overcome. These two deeds of the flesh are jealousy and envy (Gal. 5:20-21).
Years ago, if a friend of mine received something new that I wished I had, I remember feeling a jealous and envious spirit inside of me. I might have even said to my friend, “Oh, that’s nice,” but I was thinking something entirely different. Satan took that opportunity to whisper in my ear, “Why not me?”
Just watch children and see how easy it is for them to get jealous or envious of others. A child’s birthday party can be an excellent example of this. One child is showered with gifts, while the other children just watch and lust over the birthday child’s gifts. This is a perfect opportunity to teach your children about the evils of jealousy and envy, and to help them overcome it. As parents, however, we must first be the example. How can we expect our children to overcome jealousy and envy when we have not?
Remember, it was because of jealousy and envy that the Pharisees killed our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jealousy and envy are diseases of the flesh, and we can see how important it is to put these deeds of the flesh to death.
A friend of mine purchased a new car. Her neighbor told her, “You don’t deserve a new car.” My friend said, “Why not?” The neighbor said, “You don’t even have a garage to put it in.” Whoa, was that jealousy and envy, or what? Of course, the neighbor had a garage, but was driving an older car and perhaps felt that the new car should be in her garage.
Let’s look in 1 Corinthians 13, “The love chapter,” and see what love really is. Verse four says, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous!” In 1 Corinthians 13:5 it says, “Love does not seek its own.” Love is not selfish or jealous. Love wants only good for everyone. It does not seek to satisfy its own lusts.
When someone receives a special blessing, are we truly, from the bottom of our hearts, happy for them? Or, when we feel the person is not deserving, do we have an envious, jealous attitude like, “Boy, I don’t think she deserved to have that!”? Who are we to judge? Blessings and curses alike come from God. He is the judge of who gets what and when.
It’s time to have a pure heart and only be happy and rejoice in another person’s blessings. First Corinthians 12:26 tells us, “If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” Yes, when our brothers and sisters in Christ, friends and neighbors are honored with blessings, we are to rejoice with them. We always need to think only the best of each other and just be happy for each other, because this is how we glorify our Father in heaven.
If you have this problem and you see others being honored or blessed, check your attitude, and make sure you do not say to yourself, “I should have what they have.” Take this opportunity to overcome the problems of jealousy and envy, and thus, perfect holiness in that area of your life.