Green with Jealousy

The title of this blog is a quote from one of my high school girls. We laughed and corrected her. "Same thing," she said in her defense. Touche' I thought; same thing, just doesn't sound as good. One of our other leaders corrected us. "God is a jealous God, not an envious God."
I didn't really give it another thought until tonight when I was reading 1 Corinthians 13 about how God's spirit of Love should manifest itself in Christians. So God is a jealous God, and a spirit of love does not envy. But what's the difference? I never thought about the distinction between the two words.

According to Wikipedia :-) jealousy and envy differ in that "jealousy is about something one has and is afraid of losing, while envy is about something one does not have and either wants to acquire or to prevent another from getting." That's jealousy and envy from a human perspective. If God is a jealous God, and we, too, are jealous as humans, then it must be an attribute we received from Him when we were created in His likeness (Gen 5:1). So what does a jealous God look like? And why is He not envious?

Clearly, God cannot envy, because there is nothing He can acquire.
But a jealous God? Jealous seems like such a negative term. I pulled out the Systematic Theology book that a friend let me borrow in hopes that there would be something on this attribute of God. Here's what I learned: Jealousy as defined in the context of God means that God is "earnestly protective and watchful...of His own honor." God is a jealous God in the sense that He does not desire for His people to worship idols or other gods. He wants His people to worship Him and glorify Him. In my inability to properly express what small understanding I have of our Sovereign King, I make Him sound like a proud and arrogant being. But that's as far from true as possible! God deserves the glory and honor... and ALL of it!! He can claim right to it simply because HE IS GOD.

This definition of jealousy is also why we think of it so negatively. When we seek to protect honor, it is usually our own honor we are guarding. This is not right, because we don't deserve any. The only One who is worthy of honor is the only One who can be jealous for it!

My roommate and I discussed this. Clearly our hearts are often envious, and this is always sin. But there are times when jealousy if it is for God's honor is justifiably and morally correct, and we reflect the right expression of this attribute we share with our Father! For me, this is frequently not the case -- unfortunately. My jealousies are usually sinful. But there are times -- like when I see people following the false teachings of celebrities like Joel Osteen, Oprah, or Tom Cruise -- that I am jealous for them to worship God and Truth, and not to be led in the wrong direction by false ideas about the Christian life bringing wealth and happiness or about there being more than one way to Heaven. Those are times when my jealousy and anger are justifiable in God's eyes. Those are times when God is jealous, too.