{"id":1300,"date":"2024-06-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2024\/06\/26\/overcome-jealousy\/"},"modified":"2024-06-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T06:00:00","slug":"overcome-jealousy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2024\/06\/26\/overcome-jealousy\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Overcome An Ugly Enemy That We All Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The past two years, the Whitworth family has become fans of women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0 Ok, in all honesty, fans of Caitlyn Clark<\/a>.\u00a0 She is often called a \u201conce in a generation\u201d type player and on top of it all, she\u2019s been a great role model<\/strong> for boys and girls of all ages.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stadiums are often sold out when Caitlyn\u2019s team, the Indiana Fever, is in town.  (The Fever already sold more tickets in the first five home games compared to all tickets sold last year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who doesn\u2019t love a person or player like that!?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, apparently there are quite a few folks who don\u2019t, including some in the WNBA and the media.\u00a0 And of course, there are those on social media who look to fan the flames of controversy, even when there isn\u2019t one.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To say the least, the response towards Caitlyn\u2019s contribution to the sport is often wrapped in petty jealousy<\/strong>.\u00a0 They are jealous of her basketball prowess, her popularity, and financial success.\u00a0 Their arguments are wrapped in pious evaluations that wonder, out loud<\/em>, how could anyone that young deserve her acclaim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, the definition of jealousy<\/strong> is resentment against a rival, or a person enjoying success or an advantage that you do not possess.\u00a0 Jealousy is ugly and it\u2019s easy to see in others, but difficult to diagnose and deal with when it\u2019s you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, believe it or not, this is not about Caitlyn Clark. It’s really about an enemy that we all fight, and it is ugly.\u00a0 The enemy is jealousy<\/strong>, and it rears its ugly head when we least expect it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It often appears at work when a co-worker gets the promotion that you deserve.  At school, it may look like favoritism towards an unworthy classmate, and at home, a sibling or spouse gets all the attention even though you do the work! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen it in all these situations. The worst part of all, is that it is in me<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Age has taught me that my first reactions are almost always petty and small.\u00a0 It\u2019s called \u201chuman nature\u201d, and it is the very thing that Paul, the apostle, talks about putting to \u201cdeath\u201d because we\u2019re followers of Jesus and have His new life within us<\/strong>. \u00a0Knowing this doesn\u2019t make it any easier.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jealousy often points to an insecurity that each of us have<\/strong>. \u00a0(Some of us are more insecure than others, but none of us are complete apart from Jesus.) \u00a0It also reveals a lack of gratitude<\/a> as we discount the blessings and favor that we have been shown by God Himself.\u00a0 And truthfully, I can\u2019t think of anyone less deserving than me.\u00a0 God is good, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how do we overcome or at least fight the jealous beast within each of us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The next time you find yourself jealous of someone\u2019s success or special favor, congratulate them<\/strong>.\u00a0 Be the first to step out and say, \u201cwell done!\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Embrace the idea that life isn\u2019t fair<\/strong>.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t and offenses will come, but having said that, they are opportunities to disciple our inner nature and attempt \u201cself-control.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Remember that God rewards faithfulness.\u00a0 We used to remind folks to \u201cbloom where you\u2019re planted\u201d –<\/em> which is really another way of saying, remain steadfast and faithful<\/strong>.\u00a0 God sees.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    So, my hope is that the next time that you have a \u201cCaitlyn Clark\u201d person in your life, that you will be first in line to congratulate him or her and put to death that ugly monster that lives in all of us.\u00a0 It will take God\u2019s grace, and all the humility that you can muster, but you will stand tall in their eyes and your own<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Put to death,\u00a0therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.<\/p>\nColossians 3:5a<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Dick Whitworth
    Director of Operations, STAR 99.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    P.S. I would love to hear your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How have you handled jealousy in your life? What lessons have you learned that you could share?<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This is about an enemy that we all fight, and it is ugly.\u00a0 The enemy is jealousy, and it rears its ugly head when we least expect it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[72,54,28,112],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-growth","tag-faith","tag-gratitude","tag-inspiration","tag-jealousy"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 13:09:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}