JEALOUSY | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 12, 1869

JEALOUSY.

THIS is one of the evil elements of fallen nature. It is that principle which causes men to suspect evil, even in their best friends. It finds wrong where none exists. It even construes good deeds in such a light that they appear as grievous wrongs. It is always watching for a slight, and it never watches in vain. If the act upon which it seizes is one of perfect innocence, then it so construes it as to make it one of immeasurable wickedness, because it is an act of hypocrisy. Great evil, it thinks, must lie in the background, and their good act was designed to cover it from view. There is no escaping the venom of this satanic fury.

Where it exists in a family, there is no peace to that house. The Son of peace does not abide under that roof. Where it is found in a church, there is neither rest nor quiet for that church. There will be perpetual trouble unless the members who are cursed with this foul demon in their hearts, either die or are converted. But there is little ground to hope that such persons will be converted, and as to their dying, that generally seems to be quite out of the account. Men and women who have this indwelling demon generally prove a life-long curse to their families, and to the church. The inscrutable providence of God suffers such persons to live. Perhaps it is that the patience of those who have this sharp thorn to endure may be perfected. Perhaps it is that sin may be permitted to show itself in its hateful character.

But one thing is certain; this evil has limits which it cannot pass. It may destroy the peace of families; it may grievously afflict the people of God. But it shall never be found in the city of God. Not one particle of this spirit shall ever enter the gates of the holy city.

So it follows that those who have this wicked principle in their hearts must be converted, or consumed by the fire of the last day. There is a remedy for jealousy. It is found in that charity which thinketh no evil. 1 Cor. xiii.

Sometimes we see in one family a life-long contest between two of its members: one being full of jealousy, the other exemplifying the principle of heavenly love. Perhaps Solomon had seen this strange contest or he would never have written, “Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave.”

If we could become new creatures in Christ, how great would be the change! If the old man were put off, and the new man put on, how great an improvement it would be! “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” 2 Cor. v. When men are converted after this fashion, the world is always the better for it.