No Room for Envy
One of the biggest threats to “inner peace,” is jealousy. One tiny seed planted in your heart soon grows out of control and it’s evil vines choke out every ounce of goodness. The Bible says in Proverbs 14:30, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” And in James 3:16, the warning is clear; “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” It’s easy sometimes to look at what someone else has and want it for yourself. You may even think you deserve it more than they do and subconsciously begin to feel angry that you were not blessed in the same way. It could be material things, job status, financial or even a relationship. But harboring a deep desire for what someone else has will not bring you peace, joy and contentment. But the most important reason to get rid of all envy and jealousy is because it will keep you out of heaven. God says in Ephesians 5:5, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, or covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Wow! That’s a pretty powerful reason not to covet! The best way to stomp out the weeds in a jealous heart is to more fully embrace God’s will for your life, accepting that He knows what is best for you and trusting Him to give you the gifts He wants you to have. When your heart overflows with gratitude for God’s blessings - you can’t imagine being jealous over what anyone else has. Learn to be content with the privilege of being who God created you to be for there is no room for envy in heaven!
Text:
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:16-18, ESV)
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-
13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:3-17, ESV)
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. (Proverbs 26:4, ESV)
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 4:4, ESV)
© Brenda Walsh Ministries www.brendawalsh.com
