In 1 Corinthians 13:4, the New Living Translation states, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.” Jealousy doesn’t belong in love. If a person truly loves someone else, there is no place for jealousy. When you love someone, you are not jealous or envious of them. Rather than being jealous, a person who loves you would be happy for you.
Jealousy is not presented in a good light throughout the Bible. James 3:14-16 states, “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
Jealousy and love cannot coexist. If you are jealous of another person, you are not loving them as God wants you to love them. If we allow jealousy to take root in our hearts, it will rot our bones (Proverbs 14:30).
Jealousy does not belong in love because when a person loves, they do not want to do harm to their friend. Love does not harm its neighbor (1 Corinthians 13:5-7). Instead of being jealous, love rejoices with the person. In our modern-day and age, there is a lot of jealousy and envy.
With social at our fingertips, it is not hard to start comparing our lives with others and begin to be jealous of others. It is for the best that we avoid being jealous of others. Jealousy and envy are sins (Mark 7:21-22). Holding onto jealousy will only cause us pain and hurt.
Rather than letting jealousy rot us from the inside out, we need to let love overflow in our entire beings. Jesus commands us to love all people. In John 13:34-35, the Lord says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Loving others the way Jesus commands us to will extinguish any jealousy inside us. As I have previously mentioned, jealousy cannot coexist with love. Some of you may say, “What about God? Isn’t He jealous for our love?” The Bible repeatedly tells us that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24; Nahum 1:2).
He is jealous for us to love, serve, and worship Him alone. The type of love that God has for us is divine jealousy. God’s jealousy is not rooted in sin. Rather, God’s love is rooted in His love for us.
If we are honest with ourselves, our jealousy is not rooted in love for our neighbors. Rather, it is rooted in envy and covetousness. This is how our jealousy is different from God’s righteous jealousy. Our jealousy is rooted in sin, but God’s jealousy is rooted in love and in His holy nature.
As Christians, we have to make the intentional decision to love others rather than to be jealous of them. If we truly love others, we should be happy for them — not jealous of them. As an example, are you jealous when a friend or a loved one becomes engaged when you are still single? Or are you jealous when somebody places higher than you on the final exam?
Or are you jealous when somebody has a nicer car than you do? In all these things, we tend to become extremely jealous of others. Instead of being jealous, we need to choose to be happy for them. Even if the jealousy is burning inside of you, you need to let it go.
Take all your jealousy and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Tell Him how much you are struggling with jealousy and ask Him to help you to be happy for the other person rather than being jealous of them. We should never be afraid to be true, honest, and raw in our prayers to God. He wants us to come to Him with all our feelings whether they are full of anger, sorrow, or pain.
The Lord is not afraid of our feelings. He knows our thoughts and He wants us to bring them to Him. When you feel yourself growing jealous of someone else, tell God. Ask Him to help you remove the jealousy from your life. Pray and ask Him to be happy for them rather than to be jealous of them.
Once you start being happy for them, you will notice that the jealousy will start waxing, waning, and then it will completely vanish. God doesn’t want you to live a life of jealousy and envy. This is why He wants us to live a life of love. When we live a life of love, we will be able to glorify God and bring joy to our own hearts.
Living a life of love rather than a life of jealousy is much better for our souls. Jesus died in order for us to have an abundant life (John 10:10) and in this abundant life, love needs to flourish and grow. If we let jealousy remain in our bones, it will only destroy us. Jealousy and comparison are truly the thieves of joy.
We need to stop comparing ourselves with others because we will always end up being jealous of another person. Instead of feeling jealous, we need to ask God for help and be intentional about extending love to the other person. If we are being intentional about loving others rather than growing jealous of them, we will be able to be truly happy for them.
The next time you feel jealousy rising in your bones, give it over to God. When you are feeling jealous, recognize that feeling and know that it is a sin. It is a very common sin, but we have to practice extinguishing it from our lives.
Jealousy will only grow worse and worse in time if we do not pull it up by the roots. However, if we choose to intentionally love others, jealousy will start to disappear from our lives. Love is greater than all things — including jealousy.
Choosing to love others can be hard especially when we are jealous of them, but in time, by loving them and asking God for His help, jealousy will soon disappear from our lives.
Jealousy does not belong in love because love causes us to deeply care about the person, be happy for them, and rejoice in their celebrations. Think of it in this way: if you had recently got engaged, aced your final exam, or just bought your dream car, wouldn’t you want others to celebrate with you too?
In the same way, we should extend the same love and celebratory attitude with others. Choosing love rather than hate will make God happy, you happy, and everyone else involved happy. Love and jealousy cannot exist together, which is why when you choose to love others, the jealousy you hold against them will slowly fade away.
Be happy for others even if it gets hard sometimes. I have personally struggled with jealousy over the course of my life, and it is not a happy road to go down. Rather than choosing jealousy, we need to choose love.
Jealousy does not belong in love because jealousy is rooted in sin and love is rooted in Christ. Choose today to glorify God by loving others rather than by being jealous of them.
For further reading:
Why Is Love Mentioned in the Bible So Many Times?
What Is Love According to the Bible?
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