JEALOUSY

We are fortunate that this doesn't happen much amongst our boys but we had an incident today. I always feel like I am inadequate as a parent because my boys still fall victims to jealousy and I have somehow missed the boat in teaching on this topic. The truth is this topic is nothing new to God. It is nothing new in the arsonal of spiritual attacks. Families have had jealousy since the first family of Adam and Eve. Think Cain and Abel in Genesis. They had jealousy so fierce that Cain killed his brother. Some other famous Bible brothers were Jacob and Esau. Jacob stole Esau's inheritance blessing. Esau was filled with so much rage that Jacob left town for dozens of years. How can I prevent such jealousy in my boys? In my own strength, I can't. It is a temptation that they must learn to fight on their own, if I give them the right spiritual tools (i.e. Bible & prayer).

You see, yesterday, we were given 2 tickets to the Universal Studio themeparks. Not 4, only 2. Jack had planned on making a roller coaster *event* for him and Simon Peter. A father & son bonding day. None of us even thought Andrew would be jealous, but he was. He didn't even like roller coasters. Why wasn't he happy for his brother? We worked out some alternative scenarios but the fact was that we had a heart issue. I could give in, buy more tickets and let Andrew gets his way or I could try to reason with him outside on the back deck. (Jack was at work.) In the end, the best thing was to go inside and finish making lunch after I had said my peace. Andrew stayed behind and from the window I watched & prayed for my little boy.

I saw him move around and then, sit like a statue. Then, he came in the house with some reservation. His eyes met mine and he said, "I'm sorry." I quickly let him know that I had forgiven him and knew he would make the right decision.

The only problem now was that he hadn't forgiven himself. So many times, we ask Jesus to forgive us and we cast our sins upon His shoulders. But then, we take them back into our lives and keep beating ourselves up over them. I don't know why we do this but sure enough, it happens to young and old alike. Andrew is the type of personality that he has such a hard time leaving his sins with Jesus and feeling forgiven. He is good at self-hatred which is something I had to deal with all my life. It's about feeling worthy. As a child of the King of kings, I have to often remind myself that I am worthy of forgiveness and happiness. I had Andrew pray about it and he kept his head in a pillow until the smell of fresh pizza filled the air. Like Scooby Doo to a Scooby snack, the world was right again.

I believe he had finally come to the point of letting go of his jealousy and letting go of his own sin. It is good to see a smile back on his face and a restored relationship with his brother as he eats his pizza.

Robin