The Nature of Competitive Jealousy
You'll find the origin of competitive jealousy described in the book of Isaiah. There, we discover even heaven was not immune from the ravages of this destructive force. Read, beginning in verse 12 of the 14th chapter of the book of Isaiah, taking special notice to the repetition of the word "I":
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isa. 14:12-15)
Whenever you encounter an "I-minded" person, you will also encounter the subtle spirit of competitive jealousy. This caused the downfall of Satan. He compared himself to the Almighty God, and actually believed that he could compete with the sovereign of the universe. The world may call such talk confidence, but God calls it pride. For this folly he was cast out of the presence of God, and now seeks to spread his vile addiction to man. You encounter his influence every day. Competitive jealousy is one of Satan's primary legacies to mankind. This is so important. We must know the origin and nature of this spirit if we are to combat its influence in our lives.
The Demonic Pecking Order
Look with me at Ephesians 6:12: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
This makes it perfectly clear that our battle is not with one another, although it may seem that way at times. What we are examining goes much deeper than surface relationships. Dealing with the spirit of competitive jealousy means cutting to the root of why individuals act the way they do. We are exploring what motivates us to act and react. There are underlying causes to our behaviors which, at first glance, are not readily apparent.
In the passage in Ephesians, there are four classes, or ranks, of demonic forces, defined from lowest to highest. The lowest are the principalities; the highest rank is spiritual wickedness in high places.
The lower class demons are the type that cause somebody to curse, act foolishly, spin around and spit green stuff. The high-class demons are those that are much more sophisticated in their operation. They function more on an intellectual level. They want their work to go on unnoticed until it is too late. They function very subtly and maintain an undercover type of status. They seek to sneak into your life with stealth and deception to destroy you. These are the spirits which cause the most damage.
A Subtle, Sophisticated Spirit
Competitive jealousy originates with spiritual forces in high places - the highest order of demonic power. It is a very sophisticated type of spirit. Let me illustrate the nature of this demonic force from the passage of scripture found in Ezekiel 8:3-6:
"And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. And, behold, the glory of God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore to me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go off from my sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations."
Here the prophet describes where the forces of spiritual wickedness in high places reside. In this vision Ezekiel sees the seat of jealousy. God sees jealousy as an abomination in His eyes.
I emphasize this in order to reveal the deception into which a lot of Christians become trapped. You may have heard someone say, "I don't kill. I don't do drugs. I don't do horrible things. I may have a little problem with jealousy, but so what?" Perhaps you have caught yourself rationalizing sin away in this manner.
The truth is, if you don't rid yourself of competitive jealousy, it won't be long before you are killing and doing drugs and behaving in all sorts of horrible ways in order to compete with the false standard you've set up for yourself. You will be preoccupied with comparing yourself with others only to discover you have failed to reach the very thing for which you have been competing.
Envy, depression and shattered self-esteem are just around the corner. It may not be long before you're reaching for pills to change the way you feel. This spirit of competitive jealousy is so very subtle that you can be ruined before you are even aware of your real motives.
Equal Access
If you've seen yourself in any of the things I've just described, take heart. All is not lost. God sent His Son Jesus, who suffered, bled, died and went to hell so that we all could be His joint-heirs. His death enables us to enjoy all the rights, privileges and access to God that Jesus has.
That's right! As a result of what Christ has done for us, God has given us equal access to His throne room. But, when you get caught up in comparing yourself to someone else, you undo all that Christ has done. He died so that you don't have to compare yourself with anyone else ever again. God's grace not only makes the playing field level; it allows every pitiful sinner to be raised up from the gutter to a seat with Jesus, at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
This acceptance from God is not based on talent, looks or any form of conduct. God's approval of any man comes only through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. His blood applied to our hearts makes us acceptable.
Our competing jealousies of one another and one another's ministries are idolatry in the sight of God. They shift our focus from worshipping God to worshipping self. Competitive jealousy wraps us up in trying to come up to par with what we are comparing ourselves. Instead of all that focus being given to worshipping God, it is wasted on futile attempts to measure up to some false standard of the image to which we are comparing ourselves.
Giving all our attention to something is worshipping another god, which is idolatry. Remember that God said, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." God is jealous for our attention and worship. Why else did He send His only Son to die for folks who seem to be oblivious to Him at best, and outright hostile at worst? Competitive jealousy turns us into gods of self-worship. We are trying to perfect ourselves according to a self-made plan of what we think is right. We are comparing ourselves to what we see in this world. We have ceased to know and live by the truth that Jesus has make us joint-heirs with Him and that He has given us equal rights and access to the throne of God based on His finished work on the cross.
It is the nature of the spirit of competitive jealousy to divert the attention of the believer from this beautiful fact of the Christian life. This unholy spirit steals in and says that you do not measure up to some man-made image of perfection. Desiring to be accepted, you fall into deception by believing the lie. The deception deepens until your whole being is concentrated upon reaching for the illusion of perfection that you have devised in your heart. Yet, all your efforts are doomed to fail because the image is false.
So much wasted energy has been spent on striving for something that you already have in Jesus. It is the nature of this spirit of competitive jealousy to divert your attention from worshipping the one true God, to dedicating your mind and energies to seeking to measure up to some false standard of perfection. Acceptance will never be gained by your hard work. It can only be yours by surrendering yourself to Jesus Christ.
Excerpt permission granted by World Changers Ministries
