Are You Great?

Around 1970, a high school student was running the largest church bus route in the world. When he graduated, he attended the college I attended. Other students had bigger bus routes, though, and another student becamse leader of the world's largest bus route, bringing in over 1,000 riders to church. Most Christians would respond with awe at the Godliness of these two, but both of them were eventually expelled for various offenses. How was this possible?

It is a common Christian error to believe that a person with a big ministry is automatically Godlier than a person with a small ministry. While it might be true, it doesn't have to be so. God is working out a plan to redeem His creation, and He uses people to carry out His plan. Saul was actually chosen as king because God's people had rejected God's plan, wanting a kingdom instead of being ruled by judges.

When God's plan calls for a large ministry in a certain geographical area, it doesn't prove that the Christians involved are spiritual giants. They might be, or they might have gifts and abilities that fit into God's plan. Your job, as a Christian, is to grow in grace and knowledge, and then to submit to whatever God tells you to do. If you do that, you are a spiritual success, regardless of what God calls you to do.

King Saul failed to acknowledge that God had called David to replace him. He might actually have discerned sins in David that would cause problems later, But his refusal to accept God's will for his own life produced the jealousy that eventually destroyed him.

Why Some Christians are So Great

Why didn't King Saul just accept God's will, make David king, and help David in any way that he could? One key reason is that Saul did not realize why he was such a good king: because God gave him the ability to be a good king.

1Co 4:7 ¶ For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Was Saul a good king? 2 Samuel 1:23 tells us that "Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives..." Saul did not take bribes or corrupt justice. He did not steal another man's wife, murder her husband, and provoke civil wars, as David would later do. But Saul made a key error in thinking that he was king because he was better than David. Saul was king because God made him king, and God had the right to give the kingship to somebody else.

"Covetousness" is wanting something that God doesn't want you to have. "Jealousy" is wanting to keep something that God doesn't want you to keep.

Saul's Jealousy

Saul was less astute than Jonathan, but more astute that young David. He appreciated David at first, but when he heard the song "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands," he discovered the key to successful jealousy:

The leader saw evidence that God had chosen someone else over him.

Saul understood that God was blessing David more than Saul. In fact, much of Saul's success was due to God's blessing of David. Although he wasn't sure at first, Saul rightly suspected that David was the king who would replace him. He unfairly demoted David, and David continued to excel in a lower position, gaining favor among the people. Whatever Saul did, he could not defeat God's plan to make David king.

So why didn't Saul just face the truth, as Jonathan had, and help David? Because...

Attitudes

King Saul and his son Jonathan were facing a serious problem. There was a giant Philistine blaspheming God and frightening their troops. As the tallest Israelite, Saul was under pressure to battle the giant, but he knew he couldn't win. Jonathan had been involved in starting this war, and he was next in line to be king. But, like his father, he was unable to solve the problem.

Then a pink-cheeked boy walked out and killed the giant, getting both Saul and Jonathan out of a bad situation. Jonathan had an idea of what was coming: the boy would be the next king, not Jonathan. So Jonathan made friends with him and helped him. After all, being second-in-command to a successful king was better than being a king who got killed by the Philistines.

Jonathan had the correct attitude towards jealousy. When an underling can do something better than you can, that underling may very well be a gift from God; someone to be appreciated and cared for.

Envy and Jealousy

Psychologists make a distinction between envy and jealousy. "Jealousy" is "I have it, and you don't, but I'm afraid that you will take it away from me." King Saul was jealous of David. However, the most common use of jealousy in the Bible is to refer to God, Who fears that He will lose us.

"Envy" is "You have it and I don't, but it rightfully belongs to me." The Bible uses words like "envy," "envious," etc., to describe people who want something that someone else has.

Most website articles dealing with jealousy and envy are written for people who have one or both traits. I'm going to be dealing with people who are victims of these traits as well; in other words, someone is jealous or envious of you.

I'll be posting about twice a week, and I hope that you'll feel free to comment.

Jealousy and Envy

When Saul has slain his thousands, and David has slain his ten thousands, Saul is going to have to deal with jealousy.

I'll be doing something new here, combining Bible, psychology, and real-life experiences to discuss jealousy and envy. More than one successful Christian has been surprised to find that his or her church leadership is unexplainably hostile. But you can't go around blaming all your personal problems on jealousy. Can you?

I'll be posting about twice a week, and comments and personal experiences are appreciated.are appreciated.

News Update

Greetings, Gringos! I hope your week wasn't as interesting as mine. "Godly Grandma" attended a very strict church in the area; loved by many, she had quite a large family, all the way down to her many great grandchildren. She went to be with the Lord last week. Her teen-aged granddaughter had rebelled against the church rules, and  now, four illegitimate children later, she is trying to live for God. She lives with the father of the last two children, who is trying to be a good father and a good Christian. But he can't marry her, because he can't afford to divorce his wife. He is working at the orphanage now, and she is working at another orphanage, but they are having financial problems.

The funeral was held at the strict church, where hardly anyone would talk to them. Her grandmother, however, had never stopped loving her. I was the only Gringo at the funeral, and I was also the only friend they had there. Unable to afford cars, they usually walk to the cemetery for the burial, where the grave had been dug by family members. I drove my friends, as well as the grandfather, to the cemetery.

While I obviously am not as uptight as the strict church, I admit that they have a point. They had warned the teen-aged girl about not living for God, she had rebelled, and she has reaped what she has sown. Television presents sin as being glamorous, but in real life, television is lying to us.

The government lifted the swine flu quarantine, and we were able to pick up 36 kids on Saturday. Altogether, Community Bible Church had 75 people in five services.

We had another incident at the dog shelter. Same old story: a dog attacked someone, they knew that reporting it meant the death penalty for the dog, so they didn't report it. The next day, the dog attacked me, biting me three times, but without injury. As a dog-lover, I hated to report it, but we can't have people adopting a dangerous animal.

Meanwhile, the orphanage is a garden paradise. Gringos have formed a group that pays for upkeep, and they have got all the gardens looking bright and cheerful. "Kitty," the German Shepherd watchdog, is large and friendly, and the older kids love her. They have built a large, sturdy tree house, complete with rooms, along with swing sets, rockers, sliding boards, and

athletic fields.

Last Friday morning, the Taliban ambushed a convoy that my son was in. The usual procedure is to drive through the ambush, then return to fight, but the Americans chose to fight it out where they were. Using a light machine gun, my son held down two fortified Taliban positions while other soldiers advanced on them. They found blood, but no bodies, as the Taliban had fled. The Americans took no casualties.

Adios, Vicente