Acts 13 tells the story of Paul’s visit to Antioch of Pisidia. He first went to the synagogue, and explained from the Scriptures the Good News that Jesus is the Christ. At first the Jews were willing to listen to him, but when he returned the next Sabbath a huge crowd – almost the entire city came to hear him speak.

Rather than rejoicing that God was at work among them, they were jealous.

Jealousy is the result of pride, original sin. It is the emotional outworking of a self centred person who cannot allow God to use another to do His sovereign work.

But Paul did not waste his breath haranguing the Jews, instead he took the message of the Gospel elsewhere – to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are basically everyone except the Jews! By their jealousy they lost the chance to hear and believe.

What will God do with our jealousy? Will He challenge us over it? Or will He take His message elsewhere to those who acknowledge God as the source of all we have and are?