“And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory.”
The sons of Laban fell for the age-old excuse as to why someone else had more than them,
and that was to accuse them of doing something wrong to get it. Instead of going out and working harder than Jacob, they chose the lazy way of falsely accusing him. Jealousy was the reason these men didn’t like Jacob. There was no reason they couldn’t have had what Jacob acquired had they dealt with their jealousy.
Jealousy is a horrible sin that often causes gossip. These men chose to talk about Jacob instead of using that time to be productive. Jealous people are gossips who always talk bad about those who have more than they do.
Moreover, jealousy finds excuses for its lack of effort. Excuses are always the easy way to justify your jealousy of another’s successes. Finding fault in one who is succeeding at what you are supposed to be doing is much easier than working hard. Jealousy doesn’t care that excuses rob one of their opportunity to do something great themselves.
Jealousy turns friends into enemies. These brothers were friends with Jacob at one point, but jealousy turned them into enemies. Jealousy has made many people lonely people. You can only turn so many friends into enemies because of jealousy before finding yourself all alone.
What can you do to stop jealousy from becoming a tool to destroy your life? First, don’t let excuses be the justification for not working hard. Excuses are always easy to find, but they will keep you from becoming what you could be if you wouldn’t use them. Excuses become easier to use once you let them become the crutch you lean on for your lack of applying yourself.
Second, be happy with the successes of others. Learn to rejoice with others when you see them succeed. It ought to thrill your heart to see others blessed because of their hard work. It ought to make you happy that God would give someone something. When jealousy is removed from your life, you will find that you can rejoice with others when God blesses them.
Third, let the successes of others be the motivation to do the same. Another’s success ought to be the catalyst to make you do what they did to succeed. Success is not bigoted or prejudiced; success will reward you the same way it rewards others if you will do what they did to succeed.
Fourth, work harder than others. There is no substitute for hard work. You don’t have to be smarter or more talented to be more successful than others. The key to doing more than those who have more than you is to work harder than they work. The harder you work, the more you will find success.
Fifth, let obstacles be stepping blocks to creativity. Instead of allowing excuses to be the crutch to mediocrity, turn what can be an excuse into an opportunity to find a creative way to do more. Most of the great ideas that spawn success were born out of adversity. Adversity has turned more people into success when they chose to turn the obstacle into a creative idea to do more. Be creative with ways to turn obstacles into opportunities, and success will find its way through your adversity.
