-
Comparison: the Good and the Bad
“Comparison is the Thief of Joy” is a common saying, but I’m not sure who said it first. It is certainly true that some kinds of comparison can cause problems. But is all comparison wrong? In order to think through this issue, I ran a quick Bible search in the New Testament looking at all of the comparative adjectives (183 of them to be precise). Rather than list all of them, I want to just give some general observations from Matthew. Comparison in Itself is Not Wrong The first comparative adjective in the New Testament is an acknowledgement by John the Baptist that there is one coming “who is mightier than I” (Matt 3:11). Additionally, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives the obvious implication that life is “more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Matt 6:25). Clearly both of these comparisons are meant to realize important…
-
Can Jealousy be Good? Or is It Always Sin?
It is usually assumed jealousy is always a sin. But, there are times jealousy is NOT a sin. Yes, you read that accurately—jealousy is not always a sin! In fact, jealousy can sometimes be good. If that surprises you, then we definitely need to look at the biblical evidence. We tend to think of jealousy (sometimes used as a synonym for envy) as wanting what someone else has or being resentful of them (and that is wrong). However, in biblical language the Hebrew and Greek words for jealousy are often synonymous for the idea of zeal. For example, in Psalm 69:10 the psalmist says, “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” Yet the same word can be used for jealousy in places like Job 5:2, “Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.” When studying the various uses in the Old and New Testaments one is struck with…