Do you ever see what someone else has and wish you had it as well? I think we
all feel this to some degree, or at least we’ve been jealous before. We live in a
world that’s often flashing all kinds of things in front of us. Every commercial is
trying to tell you what you need or deserve, and tries to make you feel like you’re
deprived if you don’t have it. Social media can be a highlight reel of everyone’s
best life and floods us with pictures that can look better than what we are
experiencing. Often, this causes people to become jealous or begin to live a
frustrated life that will take over and make life miserable. I always tell my
listeners to seek God and ask for His help at the end of these messages. But today,
I want to explain in part what that looks like. I just described an emotion that
every person alive could and probably has experienced. Jealousy is a destructive
emotion that will make you miserable and lead to frustration and disappointment. This
can, in turn, cause anger and develop a life of destruction. But God has made
available a way to overcome negative emotions. It’s called the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. And when we ask Jesus to be our Lord and come into our lives, He dwells
in us. He brings along with Him nine characteristics that produce good things in
us and help us. Galatians 5:22 lists those fruits. It’s love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
What these fruits produce in us, if we let them, is the ability to measure and
handle negative things that can destroy us. These are not automatically going to take
over our lives, but they are available to us as we grow in our relationship with God.
When we grow in His Word, these fruits will begin to show up, and with God’s help
we can put them into practice and see them replace the destructive emotions like
jealousy, anger, hate, fear, and pride. When you make Jesus Lord, and let Him begin
to transform you, over time you’ll see less and less of the negative emotions that
drag you down. You’ll eventually realize how good life can be. Every bad thing won’t
automatically stop, but you will have an ability to handle things different. You’ll
handle yourself better, and as a result, you’ll have confidence and hope that will
produce a great life.