The Cure for Jealousy

I’m sure you’ve never been jealous of someone, or of someone’s ministry or speaking ability, but I sure have. Working in ministry, it’s easy to be surrounded by people who can do what you do ten times better. And it’s even easier to secretly wish that person would fail. Jealousy says, “I like what you’ve got; I don’t like the fact that you have it and I want it.” I’m sad to say it, but jealousy rears its ugly head all the time in ministry.

I heard Andy Stanley talk about the cure for jealousy when he spoke at the Catalyst event one year. He said, “Go out of your way to celebrate publicly whatever threatens you privately.” We are to celebrate the greatness of someone else. That’s tough! That means that when someone else is doing what I do and is great at it, I need to celebrate him or her rather than secretly wishing that person would fail. Aeschylus said, “Few men have the strength to honor a friend’s success without envy.”

I doubt I am the only who struggles with jealousy. You probably don’t have to think too hard to figure out whom you’re jealous of. So today, figure out a way to celebrate someone else’s greatness. The more you celebrate, the more jealousy will be removed from your heart.