Jealousy can really Ruin You:

I absolutely love the musical Hamilton.  I have gotten to see it twice this year.  One live for the first time with my friend and matron of honor, Izzie and then I recently got to see the live taping of the show at the movie theater with Cole.  He had never seen the musical before and had hardly heard any of the music, so it was good to have him experience it, even if it was mostly for my benefit. 

Since I have seen the show now a few times, I can really start to pick up on the well-crafted characters and their developments., as opposed to paying attention to just the plot. For example, Aaron Burr.  He is considered to be the villain in the story.  He is the one who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, our protagonist, in a duel.  (This isn’t really a spoiler alert since it is said in the opening song of the musical and it is an actual factual part of history.)  However, was Burr a cold hearted murderer throughout the musical…no.  That is what makes him almost more scary.  He was just a man. He was a father, and he was a husband who, at least according to the musical, loved very deeply.  A man who was afraid to state his real opinions because of how others would see him, and a man who was filled with great jealousy. 

Throughout the musical we see Hamilton being overall more successful than Burr in many ways. He was ranked higher in the military by George Washington, as well as being liked more than Burr significantly.  Hamilton was someone many people wanted to listen to.  He maybe wasn’t liked by everyone.  However, there were a great deal of people who did listen to him and he was able to make a lot of decisions for the country.  Burr wanted the opportunity to make decisions for their new country, but he didn’t ever really want to step on a lot of people’s toes or become unliked.  This jealousy and envy would eventually lead him down a destructive path, one of murder.

The Bible reminds us to not be jealous or envious.  This is reminded throughout the text from the beginning to the middle to the end.  This is even mentioned as one of the ten commandments in the Bible.  One verse in Proverbs discussing not being jealous is Proverbs 14:30 which says, “a peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” This is exactly what happened to Burr.  He had been so jealous of Alexander that it really had rotted his bones. 

I tend to be jealous at times. In fact, I often struggle with jealousy.  I think I can often get jealous of people and their abilities.  For example, when I meet someone who is an incredibly talented runner, I can often get jealous.  I work really hard at running, yet I am not near the level of talent other people are.  This also can happen at choir when I meet those who are incredibly gifted singers or music readers.  I can get filled with jealousy because I may be insecure about not having a music reading ability as strong as theirs.  

This is a reminder to not be so focused on the things of this world and the jealousy coming from life’s situations.  There are many times we can get jealous.  There are many times we can fall into wanting what others have or we are wanting to have a certain skill that maybe other people have. There can be many times we can get jealous about the life situations some are in, that we are wishing we could have, such as being married or in a relationship or having children or a certain job position.  We can sometimes see life experiences others are having and become jealous since we are not close to having that particular life experience.  We have to remember everyone has a different life path.  Everyone has a different journey, sovereignly designed by our gracious Lord and Father. 

The challenge of this week is to think about the instances when we have experienced jealousy or the times we get the most jealous.  It is very important to first beware of the times we can most feel jealous or the times we can most get insecure and in our heads.  After we spend time reflecting on those thoughts and those jealous antics, we need to spend time in prayer to overcome jealous moments. We can seek this growth from the Lord and he will help us overcome it.