Contemplative Bible Reading

Romans 13:13 (New International Version 2011)

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

This is a bad list, but what is the last one doing there? Is jealousy as bad as these others in the list?

What is jealousy? There are too many definitions. Wikipedia has a good discussion of the concept and envy and lots of related items. I go to a short definition of jealousy:

My fear of losing something that I have.

What does a Christian have? A relationship with Jesus Christ. Can I lose that? No. I can give it away, but no one else can cause me to lose it. What else does a Christian have? Lots of things like a job, a car, a house, a nice watch, and so on.

Should a Christian fear loss of these things? Stupid question. I guess that is why jealousy is on the above list. If, as a Christian, I am fearing the loss of some of my stuff, I am still living in darkness.