Day 2 – The Exchange: 21 Days of Spiritual Swaps

Yesterday, I watched Disney’s hit movie, Frozen.

Weirdly, I found myself feeling jealous of the two main characters. Two sisters who managed to repair their broken relationship, with love.

I started to think about jealously. What is it? Can any good come of it?

More to the point: if I give my jealously to Jesus, would he give me something in return?

I pondered all of these questions. I soon realised that jealously is simply wanting what you don’t yet have.

Let me give you an example… Before I fell pregnant with my daughter, I remember attending a house viewing and seeing a little pair of baby shoes, on a shoe rack, in somebody’s entrance hall.

Seeing those shoes made me feel jealous. After pondering my jealously I realised that I wanted what I didn’t yet have… I wanted a baby.

When I had realised the cause of the jealously I was able to give that desire to God.

Psalm 37:4 says:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4, ESV

Jealously can be a great indicator of your heart’s desire. I believe God is saying: whenever you feel jealous, don’t shut down, but come delight in me.

Because, here’s the thing: jealously can harden your heart, if you let it.

If you stop at jealously and sit in that feeling for too long, it will turn into comparison – which leads absolutely nowhere. I know for a fact that I have nurtured a jealous heart before now and it has caused me so much pain.

You need to turn your jealously over to Jesus. Take steps to be honest with God about why you are jealous and what it is that you want.

When I was honest with God about wanting a baby, I felt free. I trusted that God heard my heart’s desire. I was able to delight in my Jesus and the life I already had in Him.

In Him you are saved, so you can rejoice.

In him you are able to hope for those things that you long for; the things that He put on your heart, in the first place.

God of hope, God of promise.

So, today, I am practising using jealously as a trigger to delight in God.

I am not going to let jealously fester in my heart, I will be sensitive to it.

I will praise God and delight in Him, regardless of what I don’t yet have, trusting that He is all I need.

You might need to ask Jesus what delighting in Him looks like. For me, sometimes I love singing His praise, writing to Jesus in a journal, or just shutting my eyes and listening to that still, small voice inside of me.

For you, it might be completely different. I know people who love to dance, write music, draw or spend time walking in the park, with the sole purpose of worshiping God.

Whatever it is that you absolutely love doing; do that, with Jesus. REJOICE!

Action points:

• Think of a recent moment in whch you felt jealous, ask Jesus “what was the cause of my jealously?”
• Meditate on Psalm 34:7: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
• Find a way to delight in the Lord today. Practically, what does that look like for you?