The fact that jealousy distorts reality is
well known by those whose objective is to make others feel its pain. A woman confided
to her friend, “If I want my husband to get in line, all I have to do is make
him jealous.” Deliberately creating jealousy is dishonest and seldom achieves a
worthy goal. Deliberately creating jealousy is also sinful.
There’s always danger of going too far
in creating jealousy. Anyone deliberately made to feel jealous will know the
pain of abandonment and distrust. Distrust eventually causes love to diminish
and lose its power to control. Eventually jealousy leads to revenge and
permanent withdrawal from a relationship; then grief comes to all involved.
A
college student recounted how she lost her boyfriend when she made him feel
jealous. "All I wanted to do was make sure he loved me. Now he will not
let me apologize or forgive me." Jealousy is not kind, gentle or patient. It
is not filled with joy, long-suffering or self-control, but God’s
love and true love include all of these.
No comments:
Post a Comment