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DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
Have you ever felt the sensation of jealousy? Likely, we each have. Jealousy is captivating, but wrongly. Jealousy is the opposite of the positive captivation of love. Jealousy is unloving, and it undoes love.
Jealousy and love are kin. We have no sense of jealousy, usually, except regarding a person we truly, dearly love.
"Jealousy" bears a range of meanings. These include: "intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness," "disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness," "hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage," "vigilant in guarding a possession" (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. "Jealousy." 2009.)
The last meaning bears the idea of "zealous." Even in the Old Testament there is a link between "jealous" and "zealous." And the English "zeal" derives from the Late Latin zelus. See, the energy that is positive, when turned to its shadow side, becomes disastrous and debilitating to loving.
Now, have you ever had the difficulty of trying to have a loving relationship with someone whose zealousness for you - which you would appreciate - turns into jealousy - which leads him or her to varied suspicions and accusation (fantasies of your being untrue)? Sometimes this erupts into violence. Often into a smouldering attitude of, "You just wait, I'll make you pay!" Psychologically, the extremes of this manifest in such disorders as Borderline Personality Disorder [BPD].
Often when a lover kills another lover, this disorder is present - such a man with BPD tends to kill his love whom he is jealous about - and often kills himself at the same time-, while a woman with BPD tends not to kill but engage in other hurtful acts against the accused one. Of course, such disorders are not the norm: but sinful feelings of hostility, either evident or hidden, are always present when jealousy is present.
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