1 John 3:11-12: Jealousy Fuels Hatred

1 John 3:11-12.. "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous."

The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor, which is an attitude of the heart that flows out of the first greatest commandment: to love God with all that we are. However, we so often fail to love one another, but why? This morning, I would like to propose that one of the reasons we fail to love one another is because we are jealous of something that they have that we do not.

In 1 John 3:12, John refers to the story of Cain to show how we are not supposed to love our fellow brothers. Cain hated his brother and killed him, but why? Answer: because he was evil, and out of that evil flowed jealousy. Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice to God, but Cain did not, and in the end Abel killed him because God accepted his sacrifice but not Cain's. Cain was jealous of even Abel's righteousness, so he took his brother's life. Although we often refer to this story as outrageous, how many times do the same evil, jealous thoughts arise in our own hearts?

So often we are jealous of someone else's gifts. I'm not talking about material gifts (although that can certainly be a problem too), but rather spiritual gifts. Everyone who is truly a Christian has been given a spiritual gift for the purpose of serving God. However, so often we desire to have someone else's. The man who is gifted in mercy desires to have the gift of preaching that he might be on stage. The man who is gifted in teaching desires to have the gift of hospitality because he feels it would make his life easier. So often, we are discontent with our giftings and we turn into jealous sinners seeking what God has given someone else. We long to even be someone else because we are not content with the way that God has wired us to serve his church. We wish to be more famous, more eloquent, more academic, or more compassionate. Although these things are not explicitly wrong, they become sinful when in jealousy we seek to be someone else or to have a gift someone else has.

One of the lessons I've learned in college is that we must be content with the gifts God has given us. Here at school, I'm surrounded by quite literally hundreds of other people who want to do things very similar to what I want to do someday, and I guarantee you many of them will be better teachers and preachers than I will be. But you know what? None of them will ever be to fulfill the specific mission that God has given me as well as I can. God has gifted me specifically for what he has called me to do, and I must be content in that. I might not be Charles Spurgeon who can write countless numbers of phenominal sermons, or John Piper who is one of the most famous, influencial preachers of the modern day. But I can be Matthew Quick, who can find great delight in doing exactly what God has for him, whatever that may be--and so can you. Being jealous over what God has called someone else to do only brings discontentment and hatred, but delighting in God's gifts and calling upon our own lives bring contentment and love, yes, love for one another as we embrace and rejoice over how God has gifted them.

So, how has your jealousy over someone else led you to hatred of them? If you desire something that someone else has, whether it be a material or spiritual gift, I guarantee that you will be led to envying and hating him, which is sin. Instead, I encourage you today: take delight in who God has made you to be. He has uniquely put you together for a specific purpose. If you are jealous of someone else and try to fulful their purpose, you will fail, because you were not created for that purpose. Be content with who God has created you to be, and don't let jealousy fuel hatred. Rather, love one another, for the commandment God has given us.

Also, there is a high probability that the guy or girl who you are jealous of is also jealous of something you have. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.