Monday, March 24, 2014

Black with Jealousy

Stanley

Stanley was our first introduction to parenting.  We picked him up at the humane society in Lincoln, Nebraska the year before Joel was born.  He wasn't happy when Joel came home from the hospital.  Shortly after his birth Stanley decided to get even with us by peeing on Joel's clean cloth diapers.  The next day we put him in a kennel for our trip to Oregon.  We never had a problem with jealousy again.

"Anger is cruel, and fury is overwhelming, but who can survive jealousy?" Proverbs 27:4 God's Word to the Nations

Most all of us have been on the bad side of jealousy.  Nothing good comes from envy.

Yet the best way to deal with our jealousy is to understanding that God is jealous...for us. God does not want us to give our supreme affections to anyone or anything but him.

Understanding that God is jealous for us can help us deal with our jealousy.  Other people's possessions mean nothing to us when we understand that God possesses us.  He is what we need more than anything else.

The water's of baptism are a daily reminder of God's jealousy.  We belong to God because he is jealous (and zealous) for us.  There is nothing that others possess that could take the place of what we have in God.

One day that bigger and better widget that we envy will end up in the landfill or junkyard.

We never will!

Today's Challenge: Identify one thing that you covet and imagine yourself handing this item to God and placing it in his hands...then walk away.

Join the conversation at Praying With the Eyes on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/173881749421231/

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.  

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