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Envy: The Green-Eyed Monster
There is so much in the Bible regarding envy it is expedient to consider it.
“It was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him” Mark 15:10.
Thus it is directly attributed to being a sin leading Jesus to the cross. Of all possible sins it is identified as being a primary cause of His crucifixion.
Shakespeare dubbed it, “the green-eyed monster.” Chaucer called it a: “foul sin… the worst of sins” because it is “against all virtues and against every manner of goodness.”
Envy is one bad sin, so we need to take a closer look at it.
Jealousy and envy are opposite sides of the same coin.
The obverse side, envy, is wanting what someone else has.
The reverse side, jealousy, is wishing they didn’t have it.
Envy is the act of counting the blessings of others rather than your own. It comes from a lack of appreciation for your own blessings.
From Bible time it sometimes manifested itself even in ministry. “ It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill” Philippians 1: 15.
Love is often corrupted by envy. However, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” I Corinthians 13:4.
Envy is even indirect criticism of God. It portends you know better than God as to what you need and another has.
Can you rejoice over the accomplishments and possessions of others? Are you given to complimenting the accomplishments of others? It is a shield against envy.
Essayist Gore Vidal once confessed, “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” Is his confession characteristic of you to any degree?
Find your contentment in what God has provided. It is good to have ambition and strive for greater accomplishments as a workman that needs not to be ashamed. Do it without envying others’ accomplishments. We often feel envy in spite of ourselves, even though we don’t want to. It’s the great unsought sin which reveals itself often by curt, cryptic, crass, catty and terse comments. Replace them with praise. If you are prone to envy or even engage in a single act of it, acknowledge it to God and ask His forgiveness. Like any unconfessed sin it estranges us from God. That makes us vulnerable to even more varied sins.
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” I Peter 2: 1.
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another” Galatians 5: 25, 26. (Berean Standard Bible)
What Are You Mad About?
Society today thinks of Christians as being mad, and we are. Christians today are mad at the world. We’re mad about movies, the media, and the militant movements. We’re mad about condoms in school, crime on the streets, WOKE, and drugs in our neighborhood. We’re mad about education, the impact of society upon our children, and abortion activists.
We are not mad with the people, but because the devil has deceived the world.
In our culture we must be known as truth-tellers, but we must be truth-tellers with tears.
Jesus got mad at the tomb of Lazarus. John 11: 33 is the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” That was liquid love.
In the face of death, Jesus didn’t only cry. He had a second reaction, He got angry. Yes, Jesus got mad. Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” (11:33) “Deeply moved” translates the Greek word embrimaomai. (Embre-my-o-my)
NLT translates it: “a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.”
The Greek word used in the account is a metaphor which was used to depict the fury of a warhorse about to charge into battle. The steed rears up on his hind legs, snorts through its nostrils, an expression for fury, paws the air, and charges into the conflict. To snort in spirit was the strongest Greek word for anger. It is the word used of Jesus. Face to face with evil, in this premature death of His good friend, He is outraged. Why? Jesus was angry and troubled at the destruction and power of the great enemy of humanity: death. Jesus would soon break the dominating power of death. Evil is not normal. As the Creator Jesus made the world good, beautiful, full of life, joy, and justice. Evil despoiled these.
About what was Jesus angry? Summarily His anger was at Satan for introducing evil into the world. He was angry over sin because it produced death. James 1:15 notes “… sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
As with Jesus, we ought to be angry with sin without sinning in doing it. We are to love even the defiant. In “Strength to Love”, Martin Luther King, Jr., encouraged us to realize that “our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives.”
We cannot penetrate our defiant society in public forums and rallies where tempers flare, but in personal relations. That is slow, but there is no better way.
Individuals who have a different world view than the Christian worldview have difficulty comprehending how we can love them and dislike what they advocate, but we must. Doing so in our post-Christian world is challenging.
Make love the talisman by which you are known.
Do You Have a Short Fuse?
Galatians 5: 22
Jesus prayed for His followers of every era. He said, “I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…” (John 14: 16, 17).
His reference is to the indwelling Holy Spirit. When there is inert life and energy in a vine it manifests itself in the vine bearing fruit. It is inevitable. When the Holy Spirit is in a believer, He is the energy source who produces fruit in a life. The pride of the vine is its fruit. The pride of the Holy Spirit is the fruit He is allowed to produce in our lives.
Galatians 5: 22 lists nine aspects in our lives. The text says “the harvest of the Spirit is…”. Grammatically that appears to involve a singular noun, harvest, and plural verbs.
The solution is found in the Greek word “karpos” translated “fruit.” In 1611, in England, when the New Testament was translated from Greek to English, harvest time was called a time of “fruiting” so they translated it “fruit.” Today the word “harvest” is a better translation.
The nine characteristics harvested by the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer divide themselves into three groups of three. The first grouping, love, joy, and peace, are virtues that come from God.
The second three: longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness are dispositions that relate to other people.
The first three are upward and the second three are outward.
“Longsuffering” translates a Greek word combination.” “Makros” is a Greek word that has found its way into the vocabulary of teenagers. Micro means small, markos means large or long. The second word is “thumas” which means passion. Combined they are often translated “longsuffering” or a word more commonly used: “patient.”
Of all things with which we should be patient we should put ourselves foremost. If we are patient we can be patient with circumstances and people. Thus, we can show “… all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” (Ephesians 4:2).
Then we can, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer…” (Romans 12:12).
Kindness Breaks Down Barriers
An act of kindness often hard to express is forgiveness. We are instructed to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Ephesians 4: 32).
The preceding verse gives insight into what this entails: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”
God the Father, for Jesus’ sake forgave us. Our forgiveness of one another compared seems insignificant. Yet, it is the significant means by which we demonstrate His likeness in us.
Jesus Christ is still the greatest king of the ages. His cross is the greatest throne of all. His crown of thorns is the most glorious of earthly diadems.
The kindest words ever spoken were uttered in the crucible of crisis amid the pain and cruelty of Calvary as Jesus cried out: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do….”
The greatest thing a person can do for His Heavenly Father is to be kind to his Father’s other children.
It remains to be demonstrated if we will be among His most loyal subjects.
What happened just outside Jerusalem when the sinless Son of God died for the sins of the sons of men can shake to dust the rule of bitterness and hate. Love is stronger than hate, kindness stronger than cruelty, and goodness will outwear evil when Christ conquers a life — by His cross. Resolve to emulate Him.
Jesus taught us to forgive saying, “… whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11: 25).
Therein Jesus made a close connection between forgiving others and ourselves being forgiven. This is important if you have unforgiven sin in your life.
On another occasion Jesus taught on the topic from a different perspective. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Bottom line, the unforgiving are unforgiven because they are unforgivable.
Reflect on this formula: “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Ephesians 4: 32).
Think of the person you are struggling to forgive. Then resolve: “Jesus I love you. You forgave me and now out of gratitude I want to demonstrate to you my appreciation by forgiving this person.”
That is the most definitive form of kindness.
If needful pray a prayer like this: “Father, please forgive me when I permit bitterness, anger, wrath or anything else to keep me from forgiving others. Help me to surrender my rights and forgive as you forgave me.”
Does Kindness Characterize You?
If you know the least bit about the Bible you know it advocates kindness as a trait of God. However, when what many people know of the Bible is considered, it must be acknowledged that little is known about the Bible by many persons. One person was asked to describe the wife of Lot. He mixed his metaphors in answering, “She was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night.”
The works of the flesh are noted in Galatians 5: 19 – 21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, adultery, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Downers aren’t they!
At the opposite end of the spectrum from these works of evil are acts of kindness noted in Colossians 3: 12 – 14: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” Uppers aren’t they!
These items constitute a worthy wardrobe because they are traits of our Lord. Kindness is not only a characteristic, it is conduct.
Kindness prompts us to be considerate of another’s welfare, character, and general well being.
George Whitfield and John Wesley were contemporary spiritual giants. They had several major theological differences. A reporter once asked Wesley if he expected to see Whitfield in heaven.
“No, I certainly don’t,” replied Wesley instantly.
“Well, then,” said the reporter, “do you think Mr. Whitfield is a converted man?”
“Of course he is a converted man,” said Wesley, “but I don’t expect to see him in heaven because he will be so close to the throne of God that from the distance I will be I will not be able to see him.”
He disagreed with Whitfield on doctrine, but was kind to him as a brother. He was gentle with his reputation as a brother and would do nothing to impugn his character. Learn from his example how to live as a showroom of the traits of kindness noted above in Colossians 3: 12 – 14. Go back and reflect on them and commit to them.