{"id":810,"date":"2009-06-04T09:18:23","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T09:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2009\/06\/jealousy.html"},"modified":"2009-06-04T09:18:23","modified_gmt":"2009-06-04T09:18:23","slug":"jealousy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/06\/jealousy.html","title":{"rendered":"JEALOUSY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Jealousy’s
\na cancer<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It’s rotten
\nto the core,<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It’s never
\never satisfied<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It always
\nbegs for more. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>It poisons
\neven friendships<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Puts
\nmarriages on the spot<\/p>\n

            <\/span>As if what
\nothers seem to have<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Surpasses
\nwhat you’ve got.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>The worm
\nwithin an apple<\/p>\n

            <\/span>The outside
\nlooks just fine<\/p>\n

            <\/span>But
\ninwardly it’s eaten up<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Demise
\nand sure decline. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>Remember
\nCain and Abel<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And each
\none’s sacrifice<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Why was it
\none was pleasing<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And one
\nwould not suffice?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>You hear
\nthe sound of envy<\/p>\n

            <\/span>A fallen
\nperson’s moan<\/p>\n

            <\/span>As if
\nsomehow you were deprived<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Through no
\nfault of your own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>That sense
\nof true entitlement<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Of wrongly
\nmissing out,<\/p>\n

            <\/span>That leads
\nto endless lawsuits<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And endless
\ninward doubt. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>As if it
\nwas injustice<\/p>\n

            <\/span>That placed
\nyou where you are<\/p>\n

            <\/span>When mostly
\nmediocrity<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Is why you
\nmissed the bar. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>The grass
\nis seldom greener<\/p>\n

            <\/span>In your
\nneighbor’s yard<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nknow her challenges<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And why she’
\ngone so far. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nknow the factors<\/p>\n

            <\/span>That led
\nhim to this day<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nknow the sacrifice<\/p>\n

            <\/span>That lets
\nhim live this way. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nknow the striving,<\/p>\n

            <\/span>The
\nlaboring until dawn,<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nknow his trust in God<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You only
\nsee his lawn. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>You judge
\nby superficial things<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Appearances
\nat most<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You do not
\nsee what lies within<\/p>\n

            <\/span>The work of
\nheavenly host. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>Jealousy
\nhas blinded you<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You grope
\nto find your way<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And think
\nthat your mere certitude<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Gives you
\nthe right to say,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>‘The other
\nman shouldn’t have it<\/p>\n

            <\/span>He didn’t
\ndeserve his luck!’<\/p>\n

            <\/span>When
\nfailure happens in your life<\/p>\n

            <\/span>You always
\npass the buck. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>Jealousy’s
\na tyrant<\/p>\n

            <\/span>A wailing
\nselfish child<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Undisciplined
\nambition<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Unbridled
\nego, wild. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>It leads to
\nno good outcome<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It ices no
\none’s cake<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It always
\nleaves you wanting more<\/p>\n

            <\/span>It’s bad,
\nfor goodness sake. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>Somewhere
\nthere’s satisfaction<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Somewhere
\nthere is enough<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Somewhere
\nthere is pure gratitude<\/p>\n

            <\/span>And things
\nare not so tough. <\/p>\n

            <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>An apostle
\nonce reminded<\/p>\n

            <\/span>The key to
\nbeing sane–<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Godliness
\nwith contentment<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Its fruit,
\nenormous gain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>Jealousy
\nand envy’s<\/p>\n

            <\/span>The enemy
\nof true love,<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Instead of
\nraising Cain again<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Emulate God
\nabove.<\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>BW3<\/p>\n

6-4-09    <\/span><\/span>Our
\n32nd<\/sup> anniversary<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Jealousy’s a cancer             It’s rotten to the core,             It’s never ever satisfied             It always begs for more.               It poisons even friendships             Puts marriages on the spot             As if what others seem to have             Surpasses what you’ve got.               The worm within an apple             The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nJEALOUSY - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/06\/jealousy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JEALOUSY - 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}