Jealousy, Influencers, and Who are you googling?

Jealousy or Coveting…Ever experienced it? I have for sure. Both ways! I experienced it where people were jealous of me and also how I was jealous of them. It’s not pretty. I’m gonna put myself out here today and talk about myself being jealous or coveting what someone else had. I didn’t want to be cliché and discuss the jealousy I have dealt with from others. Let’s be real and discuss an ugly side of me that I wasn’t proud of for a bit. 

Key Verses & Passages: 

Exodus 20:17 - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Romans 5:8 - “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Numbers 12:1-10

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
12 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
    I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
    I speak to them in dreams.

7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
    he is faithful in all my house.

8 With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”

9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.

10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent,Miriam’s skin was leprous[a]—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,

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Transcript

Devotional #10 Jealousy, Influencers & who are you googling?

Title: Jealousy, Influencers & what are you googling?

Episode #10

Key Verse: 

Exodus 20:17 - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Romans 5:8 - “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Numbers 12:1-10

Jealousy or Coveting…Ever experienced it? I have for sure. Both ways! I experienced it where people were jealous of me and also how I was jealous of them. It’s not pretty. I’m gonna put myself out here today and talk about myself being jealous or coveting what someone else had. I didn’t want to be cliché and discuss the jealousy I have dealt with from others. Let’s be real and discuss an ugly side of me that I wasn’t proud of for a bit. 

There’s this influencer I used to follow on IG from 2021- October 2023. And honestly I was a hater. She showed off her body and wealth like crazy and had such a strong opinion on her life choices. But she did it in a way that just started to rub me the wrong way but I couldn’t stop following either. I wanted her lifestyle honestly. And I know that IG isn’t what it always seems. But still I longed for her life at times. She took extravagant trips to Dubai, Turkey, you name it. And she flaunted her home, her outfits and best friends constantly. 

The one thing that just annoyed the most was she was a mom of 2 (a 14 year old and a 2 year old), single mom. And it just felt like she had a girl’s night out every other weekend. She was partying hard and dressing to the nine. And I’m over here in 2022, not pregnant yet and I didn’t go out like that lol. I started to secretly mom shame her and I didn’t even know this woman!

Honestly it she just annoyed me. Because her reality wasn’t realistic to me and it made me resent her. It started to make me compare my life to hers. I went nuts a bit. I was hating on her clothes, complain about her home, hating on her parenting, hating on her attitude and more. Ummm I don’t even know her! How can I judge someone so harshly like that?

So, After my daughter was born premature, it just put so much into perspective for me. And I started weeding out the bad influences and worldly things that can deter you from your priorities and the Lord.

Now this influencer owes me nothing and did nothing malicious. But for my spiritual health I unfollowed her. And the past 9 months have been great lol. I’m not comparing myself, not resenting my life or being judgmental towards someone else. I now focus on myself, my family through the Lord. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

Remember this story about Moses? Look at Numbers 12. I’ll read the first 5 verses to get context and jump to verse 8 & 9 to finish this out. 

Numbers 12:1-10

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. 

Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,

I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions,

I speak to them in dreams.

But this is not true of my servant Moses;

he is faithful in all my house.

With him I speak face to face,

clearly and not in riddles;

he sees the form of the LORD.

Let’s look at verse 8b & 9

8bWhy then were you not afraid

to speak against my servant Moses?”

The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.

When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,

I always think about the jealousy scenario in the Bible with Moses and his siblings (Miriam & Aaron). After exiting Egypt, parting the Red Sea, receiving the 10 commandments and some, Moses still showed humility the entire time. What a leader, right? So how in the world could his own siblings, criticize their brother’s leadership as well as speak poorly of his wife? Moses’ wife was a Cushite, to put it in more simple terms, she was African descent and possibly darker skinned toned. That angered God so much that he gave Miriam leprosy for 7 days. So I guess she faced the consequences!

You see how jealousy is so ugly, it itches, it festers, it’s grueling to deal with all together. God doesn’t take to jealously. When you are wanting what someone else has, that’s a slap in the face to Him. God is providing for you everyday, all day and you are focused on what someone else has? Why are you seeking answers from celebrities, influencers etc? Why are you hating on someone else and their choices? What aren’t you content with what you have?

Be careful with the world today. Social media, search engines are not the places for answers or guidance in life. God/Jesus Christ is your spiritual media or your search engine. Plus, God will never make you feel like you aren’t good enough. Because of course you are. Jesus gave His life for you to live yours eternally with Him one day. When my daughter was in the hospital, we vowed never to Google any of her complications. We just conversed with her medical team and we prayed to God for guidance if we felt something wasn’t right. I refused to Google anything, because if it was up to Google, my daughter would not be here, alive. Google never gave her a chance to live, God did. He lead us and loved us through the process, not an influencer on IG. 

Let Him lead you and influence you to do His good work, develop a strong relationship and encourage others. 

Don’t let coveting of what someone else has detour your heart. Don’t let an influencer, political leader or celebrity be your #1 resource for direction or unconscious answers. 

Let God be your number one resource to find answers. Not Google.