Why You Should Be Jealous for Another’s Anointing

We all know how destructive of a force jealousy is; the Bible is not unclear on this: “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Jas. 3:16)

People can be jealous of possessions.
People can be jealous of performance.
People can be jealous of positions.
People can be jealous of relationships.

There is no shortage of things that can make this list; jealousy can be targeted at anyone or anything, really.

If you’ve been around church, any length of time, you know that jealousy can even be targeted at spiritual gifts.

Have you ever been in an environment where God starts doing a new thing, pouring out a new grace…and then all of a sudden, chaos follows? We all know that’s not what God intended, but a lot of it stems from jealousy.

Knowing that, you are probably surprised to hear us say, “You SHOULD be jealous for another’s anointing.”

Let’s look at the biblical grounds for this.

In Numbers 11, Moses establishes the 70 elders, and God pours out His Spirit on them.

“So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.”
— (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Num. 11:24-25)

Remember the context of this verse. Moses is burdened because the peoples’ problems are too great for him to bear as the sole arbitrator. God, in effect, authorizes the elders with the stamp of His Spirit, but the story doesn’t end there.

“But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp. 27 So a young man ran and told Moses and said, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’”
— (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Num. 11:26-27)

News travels fast as a young man makes his way to Moses to tell him. Joshua overhears and look at what he says to Moses in Numbers 11:28: Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, “Moses, my lord, restrain them.” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Num. 11:28)

Joshua wants this stopped, contained and restrained, but Moses has a different response.

“But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!’”
— (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Num. 11:29)

Moses, a man who spoke face-to-face with God, wasn’t intimidated by another being graced with the gift of prophecy. He actually longed for everyone to be graced in the same way!

Moses was jealous for another’s anointing.

Not jealous of another’s anointing.
Jealous for another’s anointing.

He was jealous for God’s people to experience as much of God as possible and to be used by God as much as possible.

Moses wanted this because he knew the more who were blessed with grace, the better it was for all.

You’ve probably been on the edge of a storm before. Maybe you were driving on wet roads and then suddenly you’re in the rain.

Anyway, imagine a tree where half of the tree is getting rained on while the other half is not. Would the other side be jealous of the side getting the rain? Would the other side take offense at some branches getting rained on? No, the water comes down on any part and up through the roots to all. That is how it is in the body of Christ. Any anointing on anyone is for the whole.

In fact, God primarily blesses us through His grace on others, and primarily works to bless them through His grace flowing through us. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

When we truly understand how this works, we should be jealous for everybody’s anointing; and when we’re jealous for another’s anointing, we won’t be jealous of that anointing!

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