There is a song from 1990 by Lorrie Morgan and it’s worth listening to. “I’m looking for something in Red” is the title, but the second stanza is what I write of. It goes. “I’m looking for something in green/ Something to outdo an ex-high school queen/ Jealousy comes in the color of jade/ Do you have some pumps and a purse in this shade/ And a perfume that whispers “Please comes back to me”/ I’m looking for something in green.”
Jealously is one of the most destructive emotions. Remember Pilate knew it was for envy that the Jews had handed Jesus over for execution. Proverbs 27:4 says, “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?” If you’ve ever been the object of someone’s jealously you know that it was destructive to you, but it is worse for them. It will eventually drive them mad.
Why? Because God Almighty says, “I the Lord Thy God am a jealous God.” Jealously is an attribute of God that we can’t share. Some attributes of God we can share in through Christ such as love, mercy, grace, and joy. But other attributes of God we can’t share in such as the omni’s: omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience.
Think what becomes of the person who thinks he’s all powerful? What about the person who thinks he can know everything? How about a person who thought he could be everywhere? You might recognize that at times you yourself have shaded towards one or more of these. If God in His mercy had not delivered you from such delusions, you would not have ended up any place good.
The jealous person believes he does have or can have an attribute that only God has and can handle. In Deuteronomy 4:24 when God declares Himself “a jealous God” He also declares Himself “a consuming fire.” God can be a consuming fire and not burn up; mortal men can’t. But we usually don’t think of a jealous person in any more danger than a greedy one. The “jealous type” is no different than the “miserly type.” Think again. We don’t say a person is the omnipotent, omniscience, or omnipresent type because we know that is bonkers. Just so the jealous type. He is arrogating to himself a quality that only God has and can handle and it will eventually crush him or burn him up.
Jealously comes in the color of jade and only God has a right to be clothed in it. Grey ashes befits sinners, and they wear them either in penitence or judgment.
