Saul’s story reads like a cautionary tale on protecting yourself from becoming jealous. (And it’s about to get so much worse!)

Jealousy is a monster. It robs you of joy, contentment, gratefulness and sanity. It will eat you alive.

Here are a few steps to take if you find yourself wanting what someone else has:

1. Confess your sin to God. Admit that you’re jealous. Own up to your sinful desire so that you and God can sort it out.

2. Jealousy is a symptom of a bigger heart issue; uncover what’s causing it. When I catch myself being jealous of someone else’s circumstance, it’s often because I’m caught up in ungratefulness. I’ve lost perspective. I’m building up my own kingdom and idolizing myself. Ugh!

3. Posture yourself towards God’s kingdom. Saul was an insecure man to begin with (read: hiding in the luggage). He wavered and massively sinned against God in the name of peer pressure. He struggled to prioritize the kingdom of God and instead fixated on himself. It’s a downward spiral from there.

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Don’t ignore feelings of jealousy or temptations to covet. American society is a well-oiled, jealousy-producing machine; it’s not only taking advantage of this tendency, it’s creating it.

Let’s learn from Saul and do whatever we can to keep jealousy out of our hearts.

-Carly