IDEA: Jealousy and envy can be cured only by faith in God's purposes.

TEXT: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks" (Hebrews 11:4).

PURPOSE: To help listeners face envy and learn to overcome it.

In the Genesis account of Cain and Abel, Cain's response to not being affirmed by God was to kill his brother whom God had accepted.

Why? Have you ever known someone who is eaten up with envy?

I. What goes on inside of us when we are jealous?

We see something about the other person that seems better than what we have or are – his car, her desk, his promotion, her bonus, his acclaim, her new computer. These are all we think of when we think of that person.

It is incredible that such trifles can kindle jealousy in us.

Jealousy eats us up. The other person's advantage makes me want to destroy him.

II. We get angry with God for giving things to the other person that we feel we deserve.

We think we would like to trade what we have for what the other person has. If we do that, we need to trade for everything – his marriage, her incipient cancer, his age, her temperament, his doubts, her in-laws – everything.

When we are devoured by jealousy, we don't know the other person and we don't know what that person is in secret, known only to God.

III. Jealousy can be overcome only by faith that God's dealings with us are good.

We must be willing to accept life from God's hand, but we can do that only when we really trust Him with ourselves and our neighbor.

The reason that Cain ignored God's warning is that he had shaken off the Warner. All of us can place ourselves into the story of Cain and Abel and realize that living in faith before God also enables us to live in love toward our neighbor.