Some sins are obvious and some works of the flesh too. It is easy to talk about someone caught in adultery or someone that is stone drunk. It is visible to all. But some things like jealousy and envy are not easily detected. Yet these secret works of the flesh will prevent us from inheriting the kingdom of God. It is hard to be convicted of such hidden things because we are past masters at disguising what we do not want to admit. We deceive ourselves and others, but we cannot deceive God. His Spirit reveals our hearts to us. He shines upon the dark corners of our hearts to bring hidden things to light so that he can deal with things that prevent our spiritual growth.Overcoming Jealousy
There is a strong spirit of jealousy among South Africans. The one does not want the other to do well. This spirit is a work of the flesh – in fact it is in all nations!
Galatians 5: 19-23
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

In the Old King James version jealousy is called emulations. The Greek word zelos is translated as zeal or indignation. When zealousness has malice attached to it the result is jealousy. It is zeal gone wrong. We know the bible declares God is a jealous God. A measure of jealousy is necessary in a marriage to hold it together. But when the flesh is consumed with jealousy it destroys relationships. Zeal speaks of a fervent mind; but jealousy of a fermented mind!
In Shakespeare’s Othello the seeds of suspicion are sown into the mind of Othello by the envious Iago. He begins to distrust Desdemona and at the conclusion of the tragedy murders his beloved wife. When jealousy conceives it produces sad results.
There is a path to jealousy: it begins with envy and confusion, grows into jealousy and goes over into hatred. Jesus said: if you hate your brother you are a murderer in your heart.
The root word of zelos is zeo and it refers to a boiling liquids or glowing solid substances. The heat of jealousy destroys the sanity of a mind. When jealous feelings rule a life, sane arguments cannot suffice.
The Greek word zeloo speaks of having a warm feeling towards or against someone. It can also be used in the sense of coveting something. This was Paul’s biggest battle. He struggled with covetousness. The Old Testament law clearly stated, ‘thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, house or oxen.’ Paul just could not help himself. All of us break the law of the Ten Commandments sooner or later. That is why we need a Savior: one who can save us from our sin and give us a new life within!

To be zealous for God is a good thing. Jesus said: the zeal of your house has destroyed me. If we really serve God to the best of our ability it destroys our old sinful self.

There is a way to put to death the works of the flesh which we all have to deal with sooner or later. We have to do it by the Holy Spirit’s promptings. We cannot do it in our own strength. First of all we all need to realize that we fall short of God’s ideal because of seeds of jealousy and envy. The moment we compare ourselves with other people we are opening the door to jealousy. Instead of regarding others higher than ourselves and being happy when someone else does well or gets promoted, we begin to sulk because we thing we deserved better. The moment we say, ‘why him and not me?’ we are on the wrong track and need to retrace our footsteps through repentance to get back on the right road. When we say: ‘What has he got that I don’t have?’ we are already on thin ice!

I never thought that I had any jealousy in me, until the Holy Spirit showed me all my jealous actions in my life! Jealousy on the inside is expressed in words and actions. We cannot help it. What is inside comes out – sooner or later. The way we speak about others and what we do are tell-tale signs of what is actually going on in our hearts. Our fervency has taken the wrong route and we are building up hatred against someone in our hearts.
But through Christ Jesus and by faith in his name it is possible to have victory over jealousy.
The Holy Spirit showed me how jealous I was of a boy who had everything I ever wanted. My father was a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Florida and one of the families in the church was very wealthy. They drove a black Packard and lived on a plot where they had a mansion, a swimming pool, horses, big dogs and huge trees. They had a table tennis table and all the toys and comic books a little boy could dream of in those days. This family had two sons. The one was very clever and could play piano like a virtuoso and the other one was the spoilt brat that I began to despise. He was rude to his parents and his finger nails were dirty. But he had the kind of clothes I liked but which my parents could not afford. He had a tan suede jacket and matching suede shoes and I did not think he deserved it. On Christmas he got so many toys that he could hardly play with them all.
One day we met this family on the beach in Durban and I watched the boy eating an ice cream cone. I tried to speak to him but he snubbed me and told me to get lost. I could not resist the temptation. I pushed his cone into his nose. For a moment he stood there with the cone stuck to his nose and I burst out laughing! I felt good that I finally humiliated the one who made me feel like second hand Joe!
But I could never forget that feeling…the Holy Spirit brought it back to my memory again and again.
Many years later I heard that boy backslid, left the church and ended up a homosexual, after his parents got divorced. When I heard about it I felt so convicted that I never spoke to him about the love of God. We were in the same church but I secretly hated him. And now it was too late to do anything about it. I did not know where to find him.

Another boy went out with the nicest looking girl and he had all his friends around him all the time. I came to the school in Standard 4 (grade 6) and never really fitted in. I like the girl but could not tell anyone so I made nasty remarks about her, which they went to tell her. Her mother reprimanded me. I felt so sorry but the damage was done. So I started envying the boy for having her as a girl friend. He played first team rugby. He seemed to be the blue eyed boy at school. He always looked happy. Everyone wanted to be his friend. I was the outsider.
Then one day I decided I was going to hurt him during rugby practice. I played in the B team. We kicked a high ball and ran to tackle him at full back. He back pedaled to catch the ball and did not see that he was on a collision course with the metal rugby posts. He knocked himself out, stone cold and was concussed. They had to carry him off the playing field. Deep inside my heart I actually enjoyed his embarrassment and pain and said to myself: it serves him right; he had that coming to him!
When we went to the Afrikaans Boys High School his father was one of the teachers and he obviously felt he had some authority which none of the other boys had. He always tried to pick a fight with me, but at that stage I had been filled with the Holy Spirit and did not want to fight like I used to. So he called me a sissy, continually, every day, all day. One day he came up behind me and called me nasty names and slapped me from behind with such force that my head spun and I heard a