Jealousy Within the Body of Christ

Jealousy within the Body of Christ, if left unchecked, can easily rear its ugly head and cause dissension within the Body. Competition mixed with a desire to be used by God can cause the demise of a ministry that started out with a bright future.

[pullquote]Doing the will of God is just that…doing the will of God. There are no “friend numbers” attached to doing the will of God. You and your ministry, no matter what it is, are just as valuable to God ministering to 5 people as to 5 million.[/pullquote]

As a Christian blogger, there is no place else in life I’d rather be. My love of writing began years ago writing police reports. A police report is nothing more than a story from start to finish which spells out the facts and details of a crime. The better report an officer is able to write, the higher probability that the report will be filed by the district attorney’s office which (if fortunate) will result in the prosecution of a criminal. The legal justice snowball begins with a good police report.

To be able to take my love for writing and combine it with sharing biblical truths with people all over the world is a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to be used by God to impact the world in some way. Little did I know that this would be the avenue God would use to cause my dreams to come true.

But yielding oneself to be used by God can lead to jealousy and competition with peers if we aren’t aware and mindful of our thoughts. In the beginning, all may be going well in your ministry. You may spend most of your day praying and listening for direction from God. You minister as directed and your obedience to God begins to become evident. God begins to promote you in your ministry. Your voice and field of influence begin to broaden.

Jealousy within the Body of Christ Rears It’s Ugly Head

As God begins the use you more, jealousy within the Body of Christ begins to show up. You begin to look around at what others in your field of ministry are doing. That’s mistake #1. For me as a Christian blogger, instead of focusing on God by praying and listening for what He would have me write, I begin to look around at what other Christian bloggers are doing. I spend time looking at how many friends they have on Facebook in comparison to how many friends I have. I check their Twitter feed to see how many followers they have. I check to see how many subscribers they have on their mailing list. If they happen to have a “Dr.” in front of their name, I become intimidated thinking that somehow, someway what they may have to say carries more weight than what I have to say.

Secretly, inside I gloat when there is a scandal and Dr. so-in-so with 100,000 friends on Facebook makes a mistake and is shunned in the eye of the public, having succumbed to some sort of sin and lost all credibility. Folks, this is madness!

Doing the will of God is just that…doing the will of God. There are no “friend numbers” attached to doing the will of God. You and your ministry, no matter what it is, are just as valuable to God ministering to 5 people as to 5 million. God gives us a ministry, and man attaches a number to it in order to feel validated. That’s not right! If you are doing what you feel God has called you to do, I encourage you to find your validation in what God is doing through you and nothing else. What others in the same ministry are doing has absolutely nothing to do with what God has called you to do.

We are a family. We are all on the same team. We are all working toward the same cause. We are one body. We all have the same boss. The field goal kicker on a football team may not step foot on the field for the entire game. He may have the cleanest uniform and may be the only one in the locker room that doesn’t need to take a shower at the end of the game, but if his team wins the Superbowl, he gets a ring right along with all of his teammates.

Put jealousy within the Body of Christ and competition aside and make focusing on Jesus and how He can use you your primary concern as we enter into the home stretch of ministry.

For more encouraging messages click HERE.