As an English professor, student, and user of the English language, I do wish people would get the connotations correct when it comes to the two words "jealousy" (or being jealous) and "envious". They are clearly different words, and where they could be seen in our society as being the same, or somewhat interchangeable, they should not be. Jealousy is so much deeper than envy. It just is.
The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God. It has been translated of course from Greek and Hebrew, but in both cases, it means something far different from that of coveting or wanting. Envy is when you want something that belongs to someone else. Jealousy, in its true form, is when something is already yours, and you won't give it up for any reason. It is YOURS, no one else can claim it. You fight for it because it is yours. You refuse to release it because it belongs to you.
When the Bible speaks of God being jealous, it is clearly communicating to us that God has set His name, His seal, and His promise on us; those of us who have accepted Him, and He will not release us. He doesn't want Satan or his minions to bother us, and when they do, God reminds us and Satan who we actually belong to. Now, let's talk about the word "belong". We often say that our dogs or cats belong to us, that we own them. This is not the same use of those words when it comes to God's relationship with us; we are not owned. We are covered. We are purchased, yet, we are adopted, graphed, and blended into God, but we are not owned. I hope you see the difference.
Jealousy in and of itself, is not a bad thing. We are stating blatantly that what we have is ours. For instance, if I own a car or a house, or my daughter is my daughter, not someone else's daughter, then I will fight to the last breath for what is rightfully mine. The good news is, that God will never have a last breath, and He will also fight for you. He doesn't have to pick up a gun, a sword, or anything to do that; He breathes, He speaks, and it is done. The universe and all that it holds belong to God. It will obey Him when He gives an order.
Can you imagine the arrogance of Satan, that great deceiver, who not only tested God and attacked His throne so many years back, and that he still continues to do so? He hasn't learned his lesson. He must still believe that he will someday overtake our Lord. What an idiot. If we remind ourselves this fallible being is nothing more than a sore spot for now, we'll be so much better off. When Satan reminds you of your past, and he will; don't be hesitant to remind him of his future. He knows it to be true, he just hasn't accepted it. Such foolery is too deep for me to understand. I've been "spanked" by God and I don't want that to ever happen again! I learned fairly early to trust and obey.
I sometimes wonder if Satan wasn't the one who tried to confuse us with the two words "jealous" and "envy", to make us think they were the same. I don't know when it started, but I do know that in the 17th Century, they weren't used interchangeably. There have been many essays and articles about the two words in more modern times; this makes me think that between 1800-1900 the words were confused and though I haven't done any study on it, I may do so in order to find out when it was that the old deceiver decided to be so ... deceptive. He wanted us to think that God was envious...as if someone or something else had our hearts and souls, and God wanted them.
Don't get me wrong, God does want each of our souls, and He wants each of our hearts, but He won't beg for it. Let's look at what the Bible also said about God's eternal love. The verse we all know, John 3:16 is recorded as "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever shall believe on Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." The same chapter goes on to say that we as men/women have condemned ourselves if we don't believe, He is God. It is apparent. It is obvious, but if we choose to not believe, we are condemned. God is very jealous of every last soul that He holds, but He wants (not envies) all of us to make the eternal choice to be with Him.
So the next time someone says "Oh, she's just jealous." Stop and think to yourself, does that person mean to say the person is envious, maybe she wants to be like someone, maybe she wants to have what someone has...this isn't jealousy. Maybe, if we all decided to use the correct words to say the correct things, we wouldn't be so lured and fooled. We wouldn't begin to doubt that God has the grip that He has; because according to several verses in the Bible, what is God's will always be God's, and no man, no Satan, no scheme, no war, no doubt, nothing that can ever happen can take that from God. Jesus said it, and if JESUS says it, that absolutely settles the matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment