There are actually two forms: a Legitimate jealousy based upon love, and an Illegitimate jealousy based upon envy. Legitimate jealousy sparks when someone you love, who belongs to you turns his or her heart away and replaces you with someone else. If a wife has an affair and gives herself to another person, her husband may have a justified, jealous anger because of his love for her. He is longing to have back what is rightfully his.
The Bible describes God as having this kind of righteous jealousy for His people. It’s not that He is envious of us, wishing He had what we have (since He already owns everything). It’s that He deeply
longs for us, desiring for us to keep Him as our first love. He doesn’t want us to let anything take precedence over Him in our hearts. The Bible warns us not to worship anything but Him because ‘For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God’. (Deuteronomy 4:24).
With this established, we will shift our focus over to the Illegitimate kind of jealousy that is in opposition to love-the one that is rooted in selfishness. This is to be jealous of someone, to be ‘moved
with envy’. So the question becomes, ‘Do you struggle with being jealous of others’? Your friend is more popular or successful, so you feel anger or hatred towards them. Your co-worker gets the promotion, so you can’t sleep at night. It’s possible he may have done nothing wrong, but you became bitter because of his or her success. It’s been said that people are fine with your succeeding, just as long as it is not
more than theirs
