Jealousy

In Sacred Scripture, there is a distinction between jealousy, envy, and coveting. Jealousy, apparently, is suitable for even God for the Lord says, "I your God am a jealous god", not once, but on several occasions. What is meant here is the fact that God is deserving of all worship. He is to be the central object of our love. His jealousy is a natural element of love: to desire from the beloved a return of affection. Furthermore, God, who is the Creator of the universe, is deserving of all that He asks for He is the owner and Creator of all. God's jealousy is merely a desire for what He is rightfully due and what He graciously requests from each and every individual, specifically, their love. In the case of human jealousy, God never once commanded that humans not be jealous. Pure, that is holy, human jealousy is the desire to receive what is rightfully due to oneself and of which is given to one to whom it is not due. God demands that His people not worship idols because this is the giving of something that belongs to God to rocks or wood or such, which is certainly NOT deserving of worship. In the same way, a husband has right to be jealous when his wife loves another man more than him. Though the other man may be special in the life of the woman, she should not neglect her responsibility of loving her husband in order to please this other man.
Envy and coveting are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Neither one is justified. Envy is the selfish desire to have that which one's neighbor has, especially (if not specifically) physical things. A man ought to desire a wonderful relationship with God, even one better than one's predecessors. Elisha requested double the portion of Elijah's spirit and received it! The relationship of another person with God ought not be the limit of our own relationship with God, especially for the reason "because we're not trying to surpass them". However, we ought not think of our spiritual journey as a competition either. Envy, in contrast to the proper good desires, wants to be even. The envious mentality says, "If my neighbor has it, I should have it." This is the mentality of the workers from the marketplace in that capitalistic parable our Lord told. The parable may have been about entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, and that we all receive the equal reward of salvation or God's love, yet it pointed out something natural in human character arising from the sinful nature, namely, envy. The men had been hired in the marketplace and had agreed to work for a small sum. That same sum was eventually given to all of those who came to work long after them. They became envious when they were not paid more. They thought that they deserved to have the same pay per block of time that the last workers received, yet the owner of the field did not give them that. He gave them what they had agreed to work for, and yet they wanted to have more than they deserved. This is envy: to desire a false sense of equality that would give oneself more than what one actually has earned.
Coveting is similar to envy, but is even more selfish. Unlike envy, which simply desires to be even with another person without actually affecting the other person in the least way, coveting is the seeking of oneself at the expense of another. Coveting is the desire, not to have what another person has in the sense of equality, but to have that actual thing that the neighbor owns. It is a desire to possess an object belonging to one's neighbor, but without the thought of an exchange. In no way does bargaining come to mind. Perhaps coveting follows the offer of a bargain, since the object being sold may be the only one of its kind. Business deals are not wrong. There is nothing envious or covetous about desiring to buy certain foods or goods, regardless of whether the person who owns them is not willing to sell. What is covetous is the desire to steal. When our blessed Lord addressed His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount, He presented to them a higher form of righteousness. This form of righteousness dealt with even the thoughts in their minds. Undoubtedly, the Lord would consider coveting as the act in the mind that precedes stealing.

In conclusion, the mindset of jealousy has its place and proper contexts in which it can be viewed as a good thing. On the other hand, envy and coveting will always be amongst the many evils that pollute the human mind. It is best, then to always justify one's own thought in light of God's perspective of love in order that one can be sure they are not being selfish and displeasing their Creator, the Jealous God.