Not all jealousy is bad

Many years ago, when my brother and I were teenagers, we would play our favourite albums on the family turntable in the lounge. Possibly in reaction to the teasing he received for buying a Jennifer Rush album, my brother decided to go hard core and bought something by AC/DC, the Australian heavy metal band. Talk about having eclectic tastes! Little did we know what he was letting us in for. But the music was wild, and we loved it. So we spent quite a few contented head-banging, air-guitar sessions of a Friday afternoon, bludgeoning the frustrations of the week to death with audio cudgels. That is, until our mom walked into the lounge one afternoon...

To this day, I can remember the name of the song that was playing – it was called Hell’s Bells. You would have thought that the title might have rung alarm bells, let alone Hell’s bells. But no, we were not terribly discerning in those days.  Mom sat down to listen to the song, which expresses a desire to attack and drag the listener’s soul to hell. Not terribly subtle, really. Needless to say, the album did not make it to the end of the day. It was unceremoniously broken over mom’s knee. Shortly after this, we received as a gift from my folks of a record entitled “God Loves Country Music”. Reader, it was not quite the same; I can assure you. And I hope there isn’t ANY country music in heaven. But I respect my mom for her courage and love, and I learnt a valuable lesson about jealousy.

The truth is a loving parent must often be a jealous parent. Now that I am a dad, I am jealous and protective of my children’s affections, just as my mom was. Mom did not want us to invest our affections and desires in something that was dangerous. Show me a good parent that would. Until our children are mature enough to self-govern, we must jealously guard them from dangerous affections in age-appropriate ways. And even when my children have complete freedom from my control, I will continue to jealously protect them through prayer whenever necessary. With God’s help, I hope to do it until the day I die or am incapable of praying one more sentence.

God feels the same way about you. He is a jealous God. And as we have seen, jealousy is not always a bad thing. In fact, God has every right to be envious of anyone or anything that takes His place in your affections. It is not that God needs your undivided loyalty; you do. Anything that takes the place of God in your life poses a threat to your safety. Idols are dangerous, and God will do what it takes to keep you fully satisfied in Him.

Cheers for now - Ian