Dealing With Bad Attitudes-Chapter 4-It's Mine And You Can't Have It

Song of Solomon 8:6 "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."

Jealousy is a secondary emotion that often refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of shows emotions such as anger, sadness, resentment and disgust toward other people or their relationships with people.

I believe that jealousy represents one of the worst bad attitudes that we in the ministry have to deal within the church. It can be over something as simple as a seat in the church or over something tragic like a family heirloom fought over by siblings that don't like each other.

When people get jealous they do crazy things. One of the things is that they push their personal agendas first and foremost seeking recognition and notoriety. If they don't receive it then they usually release as much venom as they can to get their way or to seek vengeance on the one that's stopping them.

I call it the "It's Mine And You Can't Have It" mentality. They must always be first, they must always get in the last word, and they must always have the recognition whether they deserve it or not. It is this bad attitude that drives a pastor crazy. Poll any group of pastors and this will be one attitude that comes  out at the top of the list. And it's all driven by jealousy.

I've had people get in fights at funerals over simple things as a belt buckle. I've seen some hurt other people because they sat in their seat on a pew. I've seen people who have had no talent whatsoever want to do something just to be recognized or to hear their name called out from the pulpit just so they can lord it over someone else.

No wonder we pastors many times are on the verge of keeping our sanity. It's enough to drive a sane man crazy at times. (Continued tomorrow)