Let It Go – Let God Repay

Jealousy interferes with the capacity to think logically, for its motives are wrong and sinful. Rachel desperately wanted children, so she gave her maidservant Bilhah to her husband Jacob as a surrogate wife to have children in her place. In the strictest sense, this was permissible according to the ethics of the day. Spiritually, it was not acceptable because anger and jealousy existed in Rachel’s heart for her sister Leah.

Rachel wanted to get even with Leah, so when Bilhah conceived and gave birth to two sons, Rachel proclaimed God had heard her plea. However, when jealousy is the motivating factor behind any behavior, God does not approve.

Jealousy overrules love and logic. If jealousy is occupying a place in your heart, let it go by asking God to bless the person that’s the object of the jealousy. This is how you turn it over to God. He emphatically states: "Vengeance is mine. I will repay." Believe God and trust Him.

Must I Really Love THAT Person? - Part 2

Some people believe “loving your neighbor as yourself” is out-of-step with today’s reality. Whom do you consider to be your neighbor? Is loving your neighbor possible in any profession where production is the main objective? It’s easier to love those who love you, but Jesus asked this question, "If you only love those who love you, what reward will you get?"

Most people respond positively to friendship, love, kindness and goodness, but when Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself," he went beyond the easy group. He extended it outward to include the hard-to-love person, the one who is difficult to trust, and those with grumpy dispositions.

Tenacity means being resolved to do what is right even though struggles and temptations are ever-present. Someone summed it up this way, "There is no merit where there is no trial or when you dodged the hard, difficult issues of life.” Determination and resilience generate blessings when you choose to follow Jesus’ command to "Love one another as I have loved you.”