Prayer: Father, You are the giver of life, new life, physically and spiritually. Thank You for the joy of new life. Amen.
Reading: Genesis 30 key: vs. 22-24
22 Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 Then she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. So she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph saying, “May Adonai add another son for me.”
Attention: Rivalry among siblings is no fun for either party. I can’t explain it, but it exists and creates a dynamic between siblings that is not enjoyable. Jealousy is painful for the sufferer and annoying to the one the jealousy is directed towards. I know from personal experience as I have a younger brother.
The Bible has very specific instruction about envy or jealousy. In Ecclesiastes 4:4 we read these words, “Then I saw that all toil and all skill that is done come from man’s envy of his neighbor.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4 says, “love does not envy.” Even the Torah of Commandments (Exodus 20:17) speaks against “covetousness”, regarding wanting what is one’s neighbors, including his wife, his manservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Why does Adonai speak against envy, jealousy and covetousness? Because it is poisonous to you and your relationships. Leah and Rachel became competitive over having a male child. It seems that their complete identituies were wrapped up in becoming mothers. Rachel exclaims she will “die” if she doesn’t have a male child. Is a woman’s worth only found in motherhood? Is a man’s worth only found in his net worth, or in being an athlete, or an actor?
If you suffer from jealousy, envy, or covetousness, I encourage you today, not to give into the tyranny of any of them and place your identity in who Adonai tells you that you are. In some way we all battle with self-worth and identity if we allow the world to define us. For men, the world tells us we are of value if we have a large net worth. For women, the world defines self-worth in worldly beauty. In Hebrew culture, women found their identities in providing their husbands with an heir, a male child.
I encourage you to find your identity in Yeshua and Adonai. Your identity was given you both at creation and at salvation or rebirth. It is important to embrace that you are made in God’s image. It is important that you know you are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) at salvation, and then becoming a “workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10) of His by the transformation work of the Holy Spirit. It is a process of journeying with the Holy Spirit and the Word, we become like Him, “conformed to His image” (Romans 8:29a).
Action: I desire for the Holy Spirit to heal those ungodly character traits of my old nature. Transform my jealousy today.
Yield: I give up my right to be jealous, envious, or covetous of anyone.
Engage: I engage with the Holy Spirit in transforming my heart and mind.
Relationship: I am one with Christ when I allow Him to transform me.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your great love. A love which transforms me and does not allow me to stay as I was, lost and ungodly. I despise the old man and anxiously look to the new man and new life, anchored in You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Romans 8:29
29 For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Music Video: Kutless—Identity https://youtu.be/pG-yjLB6etw
Casting Crowns—Who Am I https://youtu.be/mBcqria2wmg
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”