Whenever I travel without the kids, I like to enjoy the peace and quiet buy them t-shirts or notepads (something easy to pack) with the local university or major league team logo. I have never thought much about rivalries; I just figured they were fun and useful souvenirs. However, the first time one of them wore a St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt (that I picked up at a conference there a few years ago) after the last World Series, I was quickly reminded of how devout some rivalries can be!

Rivalries are about competition. When we compete, we expect to perform better than our opponent. We want to win. We want them to lose. We are jealous when they beat us. After all, isn’t second place the first loser?

Team loyalties are just one example; what about other forms of rivalry and envy in our lives? Let’s think about relationship rivalries: There would be no “in” crowd if it weren’t for jealousy. If we truly didn’t care what other people thought of us, then cliques wouldn’t exist. Relationship envy doesn’t end with high school or college, either. Think about the jealously a man feels when his wife or girlfriend attracts too much attention from other guys, or a lady whose man is ogled by other women. Like a toddler staking claim to his possessions, there is a sense of envy that rises up in us and says: “Mine!!”

Would you believe God is even more jealous than that for you? In James 4, the Bible tells us that when we have God’s Spirit inside of us, he longs for us jealously – so much so that he says if we are a friend of the world, then by default, we become enemies of God. You cannot truly love both; you have to pick a side. When we commit our loyalty to God, he wants our whole heart – not just part of it … not all of it but only sometimes … he wants all of it all the time.

He loves you with such a fierce sense of jealousy because he wants to be your One & Only, your Everything. What could the world possibly offer, by comparison?