As athletes, we can easily allow jealousy to creep into our hearts and affect the way we play and interact with our team. There will always be someone else who can run faster, get more playing time on the field, or make consistent goals with every shot they take and receive positive attention from their team. When we aren’t experiencing success like another player does, we may allow jealousy to take over. We want what they have as well as the positive attention of our coaches and teammates.

The world says that jealousy can actually be a good thing--telling us that being jealous about someone else’s skill, ability, or success can challenge us and help us reach our goals and experience the feedback and praise of success that we so desire.

In the Bible, God tells us that “love is not jealous.” God loves you, and He created you to love. Being jealous of a teammate gets in the way of us loving them. God will always love you. Regardless of whether you can beat your best time or make that shot, His love does not ever depend on your performance.

So, the next time you feel jealousy start to creep over you, remember that God loves you no matter your performance, and there is no room for jealousy when we are called to love.