The Gift of Choice

March 10, 2017

Day 69: Jealousy At Work:
"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body: jealousy is like cancer in the bones." —Proverbs 14:30

"To be healthy and happy, we need to have balance in our lives and in our work. We also need to focus on peace and joy that God has promised us. If we want to be truly healthy, we must let the anger, fear, and jealousy that we feel melt away. My patients who live peaceful lives generally have better health than those who don't. They remain calm during times of stress, they think positive thoughts even when things aren't going well, and they take life as it comes." —Dr. Anderson

The main focus of today's lesson is jealousy and how it leads to other negative emotions that prevent us from living productive, peaceful, healthy lives. Most often when we are jealous, it is in a negative sense. We are envious, covetous, and desirous or we are suspicious, distrustful, insecure, and anxious. So why is God allowed to be jealous and we are not? We are told over and over that God is a jealous God (see Exodus, Joshua, Deuteronomy, Psalms, 1 and 2 Corinthians). The problem for us is that rarely is our jealousy the kind that God has in which we are fiercely protective, vigilant, watchful, mindful, and careful toward those around us. Our jealousy is selfish; God's is protective.

I used to have a hard time with that. That and the fact that God is allowed to be angry. His anger is righteous; again, ours is most often selfish. I frequently ask myself, Why did God create us this way, or that way? Why are we so self-focused and driven to fulfill our own desires? It comes down to the fact of free will. If we did not have it, we would be automatons. How much more we appreciate love, loyalty, and kindness when someone is not forced to give it. A forced act of kindness, a forced love, or a forced loyalty means nothing. It's like an apology given when you know that the person is not truly sorry. It holds no weight, no impact, no purpose. It's a lie. God does not deal in lies. He wants the truth, even if it's battered, beaten, and worn thin.

He created us out of an abundance of love, and because he loves us, he gave us the opportunity to choose to love Him back. He gave us the gift of choice so we could be wholly our own and free. Without choice, our love, devotion, and acts of faith would be without purpose. We would be without purpose.