Have you ever known someone who to your face seems to drink every word you say, agree with every decision, and appears to be loyal and true, only for them to in reality seek their own good and your demise?

It may seem the thing of a good tv series, but it happens more often than not to regular, good people. Someone who seems to have it all, the job, the house, car, life, seemingly a good life befriends a person who seems to be the best friend or teammate they could hope for. Everything seems to be going well until it doesn’t.

There is a promotion, a change in the workplace, the elevation of status, or something that triggers the jealousy. What appeared to be a friendship made in heaven suddenly turns into a bad storyline and someone gets hurt. At the root, jealousy sits and quietly rots the heart of its victim. Turning bitterness and covetousness into the fuel of it’s cancer, as it hardens hearts and focuses on the plot to get what it wants.

There was a reason the Ten Commandments included, “Thou shalt not covet…” To covet is to desire what belongs to someone else. It doesn’t matter that they sacrificed for it, working long hours, days, even years to attain their goals.

Covetousness and jealousy are kissing cousins. They both lead the heart to commit horrible acts all in the game of getting what you want at all costs. Jealousy being the green-eyed monster that creeps along the edges of the mind when someone is unsatisfied with what one has.

To me the ultimate personification of jealousy and covetousness is Haman. He wanted to be honored so bad that he did whatever he could to be praised, complimented, and be regarded of high estate, to the point of threatening death. Haman was the one behind the plot to kill the Jews all because he couldn’t get Mordecai to bow before him and show him obeisance.

The one thing he wanted, he couldn’t get from just one person. What did he do? He tricked the King into making a decree to kill all Jews because he couldn’t get what he wanted. At the moment he let covetousness and jealousy into his heart, he became a murderer.

Did I mention that Haman was humiliated when he had to honor Mordecai publicly for saving the King’s life? I’ll let you read it in Esther chapter 6. God has a sense of humor. Esther chapter 6 is a reminder to me of God’s amazing ability to bring justice in the BEST way.

As we look deep into our hearts today… is there any jealousy creeping around the fringes of our friendships? Does covetousness find a hiding place in the shadows of our minds?

In 1 John 3:15 it says that anyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, in contrast to the example of true love. Jesus loved perfectly because he laid his life down for His friends. He didn’t covet, hate, or have jealousy against his friends, on the contrary, He loved and sacrificed for them.

As we examine our hearts and emotions today, can we identify and pinpoint ANY area where we are harboring covetousness, hatred/unforgiveness, or jealousy? Can we surrender it to the feet of the One who loves us perfectly and wholly? Can we lay it down and choose to change?

Haman couldn’t do that and it ended up costing him his life and his entire family’s lives. Haman and his sons were hung on his own gallows. The very gallows he built to kill his enemy was used to end his family line, yet Esther who had put her very life on the line for her people and risked it all enjoyed victory and blessing.

Which one will you choose to become…. Haman or Esther?

“… for such a time as this…”