1st Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
As we continue our series on what love is and how to walk in Love towards fellow believers in Christ Jesus, this Sunday we explore the next attribute of agape Love which is that Love is not envious.
Envy is a feeling of discontentment, unhappiness, resentment, and hatred towards someone who has something the envious person lacks. The envious person also has a desire to hurt the person he/she is envying. In other words, Envy covets the possession of another-talent, spouse, property, position in life, achievements and hates the person for having those things. Envy is a fruit of the flesh and is dangerous. Galatians 5:19-21 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Because envy is covetousness-an unusual and intense desire for someone’s possession, it is equal to idolatry because the Bible states covetousness is idolatry where you dethrone God in your heart and replace Him with stuff. Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. And such attitude will lead us to hell and cause us not to inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 9 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Envy is a destructive evil that should not be entertained in the Christian Community because it threatens the existence of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and has destroyed many Christian ministries. The sin of envy engenders so many sins like false accusation, blackmail, slander and murder. Cain killed his brother Abel because he envied God’s blessing on him. Instead of going to God in good faith to inquire how to become better like his brother, he murdered his brother because that is what envy does. It hurts the object of its envy-Genesis 4:1-8. Saul the king of Israel envied David who killed Goliath when people sang about his prowess as compared to Saul. And he hated the fact that David was chosen by God to replace him as king. He sought to kill David despite David’s obedience and kindness to him, but God protected David.1st Samuel chapters 17-24.
It is important to point out that sometimes we confuse envy with Jealousy and though both are related but they are not the same. Envy wants something belonging to another and will plot the death of the object of his envy, while jealousy dreads the loss of something that belongs to him/her and therefore reacts with hatred to anything threatening to take that thing away. In other words, Envy wants to take from someone while Jealousy wants to keep his/her possession or hates to lose her possession. The Bible said that God is a jealous God but never associated God with envy. God is Jealous over us and does not want to lose us or allow the world to compete with Him for our attention-2 Corinthians 11:2. Envy can stem from various evil virtues in our hearts because that is where all vices a bred. Paul encourages us to guard our hearts and watch what we think in our hearts. Philipians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Source of Envy
Envy comes from pride, ambition, low self-esteem, and a heart that lacks contentment. Paul told us to be contented with such things that we have Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.†And to rejoice with those that rejoice and mourn with those that mourn. Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. But unfortunately, the envious person behaves contrary to scriptures because he/she hates those that God has prospered and placed in superior position than him/her. Instead of rejoicing with them, he will malign, thrash, and cause rivalry among them.
The bible seriously warned us about the evil of envy which is a fruit of the flesh that should not be seen among us. We must reject it and allow our heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit which will bring healing and contentment to our heart. Seek God because only Him can satisfy. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the root of envy and bitterness in your heart which is defiling your heart and help you to overcome it. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you†Mark 7:20–23
Reflect on these traits of envy and repent: Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, do you enjoy putting down believers that are better than you? Rejoice when something bad happens to that person? Plot with others to malign, gossip, conspire, trash, and blackmail the person? Secretly praying that something evil will happen to the person.? Undermine the person’s, opinion, position, and confidence so that you will feel confident about yourself (a horrible way to gain your confidence though). Always trying to be in that person’s position so that you can be seen? Always trying to measure up with the person and compete with the person that is not competing with you? When the person buys one thing you copy and get something bigger and better because you are not happy in being whom God has created you to be. Striving so hard to buy things to impress people and always showing those things off to compensate for your inferiority and low self-esteem so that people will approve of you and discredit your object of envy. You need the approval of God and not the approval of man which is driving you to deeper envy. Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Beloved, the Lord Jesus wants you to walk in the spirit so that you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Because of envy in your heart, you believe that your gifts are too small, inferior, and unwanted. The Lord Jesus multiplied the five loves and two fishes, fed the 5,000 with it and had 12 baskets of leftover. Present yourself and that gift that you have which you do not treasure because you think that is insignificant to the Lord Jesus. Ask Him to heal your heart and He will transform your heart to acknowledge that you are fearfully and wonderfully made with giftings that are unique to you which is for the service of God and not to compete with people. We should work with the Holy Spirit to help us stamp out envy from our lives because it is a cancer that eats deep into the heart and destroys anything that it comes in contact with.
How to Stop Being Envious
Seek God to fill and satisfy your heart
Read the word of God, pray, and ask God to fill your spirit soul and body with the Holy Spirit and you will have no place for envy because only God’s presence is able to satisfy and bring contentment to your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the root of envy and bitterness in your heart which is defiling your heart. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you†Mark 7:20-23.
Stop Comparing yourself with other people
2 Corinthians 10:12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. God our father in His wisdom created us all for distinct purposes and when by seeking God we discover that purpose and serve Him with confidence, we will not have a need to compare ourselves with others, compete with one another or be envious of each other. When we compete with each other in spiritual matters, we do so to satisfy our selfish ambition and craving for approval of men. Paul said that such people lack understanding because they do not know what serving God means. A servant of God seeks God’s approval and not the approval of men. Also, God sees and judges differently.
Acknowledge the Goodness and blessing of God in your life
Count your blessings and be grateful to God for creating you as a unique person. There are unique gems that He has deposited in you that you are allowing the devil of envy to kill. Discover it by seeking God and strive to fulfil your God given assignment. When you are that busy serving and seeking Gods approval, you will not have time to envy someone else. 2nd Timothy 2:15“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The verse below shows how we are fearfully and wonderfully created by God.
Psalm 139 14-18 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you. when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Focus on your life and walk with God
Do not allow yourself to be distracted by what other people have and what they are doing. Discover God’s gift in you as mentioned earlier. That thing that you are good at, use it to serve God to the glory of His Holy name. You must have a good quality that can be put to useful service for instance you might be a very good mom that is raising soldiers for Christ, take pride in that. Timothy, Samuel, John the Baptist were raised by moms who were committed to nurture them to love and honor God. We are learning from their Christian experience which has and continues to influence generations of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ today and beyond. Barnabas had the gift of encouragement and used it to the glory of God. He was the person that embraced the ministry of Paul when the early church were skeptical of Paul the former persecutor of Christians(Acts 9:26-28) and helped Paul greatly to establish the gospel of our Lord Jesus to the gentiles. He ensured that Mark was given a second chance during their missionary journeys and that helped Mark to continue in the faith Colossians 4:10 & 2 Timothy 4:9-11 and today we read the Gospel of Mark. Discover your gift and use it to the glory of God. No matter how small you think it is, it is very important in body of Christ and in winning Souls for the Lord Jesus. When you are busy loving and serving God, you will not have time for what other people are doing and you will see the foolishness of your former envious position. Even when you see other believers flourishing in their ministry, you will be happy because we are all working towards the same goal of bringing glory to the name of our Lord Jesus. When they prosper in material things, understand that God distributes such in his wisdom, and knows what He will give you that will not become an idol to you and replace God in your life. Also, Work hard and God will bless the work of your hands in his wisdom and providence.
Seek your own gift to serve God and life will take on more meaning than possession.
The spirit of God distributes gifts as He pleases 1 Corinthians 12:11 and through prayer you will discover it or others will let you know or you might have a special natural inclination for something, develop that and walk in love while doing it because Paul stated that if you have all the gifts but do not walk in love while exercising it, your gifting is nothing. He might give you unique idea to develop for your livelihood also and make life better for you. You can work hard at your talent and skill and God will bless you also. In the church, you might have the gift of encouragement like Barnabas, use it to lift people up with your words and smile. Develop it and walk in love while doing it. God made us unique individually and everyone has something unique to contribute to the body of Christ. Therefore, when you are envious of another and not exercising your unique gift, you are denying the body of Christ the blessing that comes from your unique role. Just like the body is made up of different parts that function together to make for wholeness so is the body of Christ. The eye cannot say that I want to be the leg or leg the back etc. Every part of the body no matter how small is significant so are children of God and their gifts in serving the body of Christ and Christ Jesus Himself. This was explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 where he compared the body of Christ to a human body with unique parts with unique functions and together, we make the body complete and adequately functional. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the body Ephesians 5:23 and the Lord Jesus wants you to use your unique role in His body toglorify his name.
When you live this way, you will be loving God by loving his children and you will see the joy that comes from knowing God and living for Him.Mark 12:30 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Luke 12:31 – But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Be grateful and thankful to God our Loving Father
Gratitude to God for His goodness to you will surely drive envy from your heart. Psalm 107:21″Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.” Colossians 3:16-17 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.â€
Walk in Love towards those that you might feel that are better than you and ask God to help you to rejoice with them and mourn with them. Pray for them for continual blessing and as you continue to serve God sincerely not because you want blessings from Him but because you love Him from a pure heart, you will start seeing and appreciating His blessings that were on your life and continual blessing from Him. The Lord Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to us. Matthew 6:33 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
May God help us to overcome envy in our lives in the Mighty Name of our Lord Jesus.
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Hi Harpoon,
Thank you for the comments regarding my posts and for letting me know that you check my posts regularly. I try to post biweekly, though sometimes I might miss the schedule because of certain constraints. I hope that God will bless you spiritually and otherwise through these posts and in your quest to know Him more and more. The posts are meant to encourage us to have a loving relationship with our father in heaven who loves us so much that He did not spare His only begotten son but gave Him as a ransom for our sins in order to reconcile us with God.
My prayer is that God will help me and visitors to this site to to practice the things that we learn from His word and it is possible to live out our Christian life by the Grace of God and the Help of the Holy Spirit. Blessings.