Jealousy has been called the “Green Eyed Monster”. This expression was created by Shakespeare in his play Othello, where one of his characters says: “O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” The green eyed monster of jealousy mocks us and makes us look foolish as it destroys us. We get red in the face. We say things we don’t mean. Our outlook on life is clouded. We end up hurting people we love.
Long before Shakespeare, Solomon wrote in Proverbs 27:4 – Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
One way to defeat the green eyed monster is to worship and thank God for all that he’s given you and done for you. Transform your jealousy into worship. Realize that God has made you the way you are for a purpose. Worship and thank Him for the gifts you do have! It’s more than you or I deserve.
Let me challenge you a little farther. Thank God for how he’s gifted the person your jealous of. Ask God to pour out his blessings on that person that you’re envious of. Instead of being threatened and worried by them say to the Lord, “I thank you O God for how wonderfully you’ve gifted so and so. Continue to open new opportunities for them and may the grow to be all that you’ve called them to be.” Turn your envy into worship and like light expelling darkness your jealousy will vanish away!
In California there is a tree called the Sequoia. It’s also known as the California Redwood. What’s amazing about these evergreen trees is their incredible size, ranging 200 to almost 400 feet tall, and up to 23 feet in diameter at the base. They also live for up to 2,200 years. You would think that enormous trees like this would have deep, deep roots going way down into the earth.
Actually their roots are shallow and they spread out and connect with the roots of the other Redwood trees nearby. That’s one of the secrets to their long life and stability. They’re connected, rooted, and in relationship with those other trees. They are able to then withstand the heat, the rain, the wind, the cold, and whatever else comes there one.
That is the secret to our spirit longevity as well. God wants us not only to believe but to belong. He wants us to interlock and connect with other Christians. There are many “deep” so called believers, but they don’t have any connection with others. On the inside spiritually they suffer and struggle. Today, choose to belong and not simply attend and observe once a week!
At the age of 18 Moody trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation and his life was changed. He was transformed and was filled with a boundless energy to serve the Lord. He first started a mission Sunday school in downtown Chicago at North Market Hall. He reached out to Chicago’s poor underclass.
Here is a picture of one of Moody’s early Sunday school classes. Each child went by a colorful nickname like Madden the Butcher, Red Eye, and Smikes. Moody is in the center background in the above photo. That Sunday School Mission would 6 years later become Moody Memorial Church.
Without higher education he would go on to win many to Christ and establish three schools. One of which still stands today – Moody Bible Institute.1
God often uses the one everyone else overlooks – the youngest, the weakest, the least qualified. God looks past what we often value most, outward appearances, family connections, wealth, intellectual ability, and natural giftedness, and sees what matters most to Him – our hearts. God sees what we can’t. He has superior vision. Often we pay no attention to the one God desires to use because we’re focused on the wrong things – the stuff we see with our eyes.
1 Sam. 16:7b – …For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
1 The Life and Times of DL Moody, David Maas, Christian History (Issue 25: Volume IX, No. 1) 5-7.
DL Moody in his day was known around the world. When he preached it was to audiences of 10 and 20 thousand. He personally presented the gospel to over 100 million people through his preaching or through his writings. No internet. No TV. No commercial air travel.
However, if we look at Moody’s youth there are no hints that he would be a great evangelist. His father died when he was 4, leaving his mother to raise 9 children, all under the age of 13.
Because of the size of the family, DL Moody was never encouraged to go to school or to study. As a result his total schooling was the equivalent of a 5th grade education by today’s standards.
At age 18 he tried to join a Congregationalist Church, but he failed a simple Bible test given by the deacons of the church. He never went to college, seminary, nor was he ever ordained formally as a pastor. When he wrote he spelled phonetically, so his sermon outlines and letters are filled with spelling errors.1 To be continued….
1 The Life and Times of DL Moody, David Maas, Christian History (Issue 25: Volume IX, No. 1) 5-7.
We are pumped about this Easter weekend. We have 4 services – 4 opportunities to celebrate the cross and resurrection.
Don’t miss our Good Friday service tomorrow, April 2 @ 7 PM. You’ll see a dramatic reenactment of the Last Supper, the arrest of Jesus, and his crucifixion.
We’ll then have three identical Easter worship opportunities Saturday, April 3 @ 7 PM and Sunday, April 4 @ 9:15 and 11 AM.
Don’t let this weekend go by. Easter is more important than Spring Break! Invite someone and just maybe, just maybe a life will be changed for eternity.
Jealousy has been called the “Green Eyed Monster”. This expression was created by Shakespeare in his play Othello, where one of his characters says: “O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” The green eyed monster of jealousy mocks us and makes us look foolish as it destroys us. We get red in the face. We say things we don’t mean. Our outlook on life is clouded. We end up hurting people we love.
