ENVY
We can start with Exodus the 20th chapter. In the 17th verse God said to Moses: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. We shouldn’t covet anything means that we are not allowed to envy anybody. I could have stopped here, but I will go into more details.
The apostle Paul is writing both to Timothy and to the saints in Philippi that they should be satisfied if they had food and cloths. I am not writing against rich people. I personally know of rich people and they have given a lot to the kingdom of God. We do need money in order for the kingdom of God to expand and we need rich people to give. Paul says that he has been both poor and rich, but that shouldn’t decide his state of mind nor his feelings. The joy of the Lord should be our strength.
I want to write a little about the things that could happen when a person dies. Maybe the family have lived happily together, but that could change when one of the parents or somebody else in the family dies. Some things might be decided in the testament, but that isn’t’ always so. A family member could grab hold of something and say: “I want this and I want that.” I suggest that somebody neutral divides the things and then ask if there are certain preferences. Maybe the family members can agree. If not, divide the inheritance in different heaps with approximately the same value. When my sister and I should divide the things from our parents we had no problems. Our husbands were not allowed to take part in this. I unfortunately know families that didn’t talk to each other after the inheritance was divided.
Do not become greedy!
We might fall into one of two ditches. One is false humility where we deny our legal rights. The other one is where we grab hold of as much as possible without thinking about anybody else. God is not happy when we Christians say no thanks to all His blessings. He is also sorry when He sees our greed and egoism. I had parties for my children when they were young. I could already then observe these two tendencies. I also worked at an institution. When we were supposed to eat, we sometimes had to serve the food in portions. Some people took so much that they could not eat it. We had enough food, but the greediness made us divide the food.
When we read Galatians 5, we see that jealousies are listed under the deeds of the flesh. It has nothing to do with the Spirit of God. One can covet anything. Many have been jealous of my spiritual gifts or if I or somebody else has been successful in the Kingdom of God. I had a very successful mission trip some years back. When the leadership of the church heard about that, they got upset. I had told them my plans before travelling, but the situation became very unpleasant. They didn’t get the praise. I didn’t want that either. It belonged to God. (I have forgiven them)
To God be the glory for the things that belong to Him.
Envy and jealousy will often come together with comparison. “Why didn’t I get the gifts of healing. John was saved half a year ago and now he is out on the streets praying for the sick. I do not see anybody healed and I have been a Christian all my life.” This has nothing to do with neither God nor John, but with you. In Mark 16 it says that all believers should lay hands on the sick and they will get healed. All believers should also drive out demons.
Do you get happy when others succeed? Many cannot get happy and they might ask like this: Why not me? This is a sign of jealousy and be careful. You might become bitter. If you live in disappointment or bitterness, you harbor dangerous and poisonous emotions and thoughts. It can make you and those around you sick.
A lot of things are not fair and right in this world. The world is under the dominion of the devil. God is a righteous God and in His kingdom we have other laws. In His kingdom we win victory through our faith.
God is a good Father and He wants the best for His children. (3.John:2) Jesus wanted to release us from our problems and that’s why He took our sins and sicknesses up on the Cross. We must open our eyes and see what He has done and what we have. Let us take all His promises and make them real in our lives.
ENVY IS SINFUL AND STOPS THE BLESSINGS OF GOD TO FLOW IN AND THROUGH US!
Mother Else