Tuesday 2/15/11

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Cor. 13:4-5

At the very center of envy is an excessive desire.  It is an attitude of the heart; a motive deep within the inner man.

We all have the tendency to be envious as part of our sin nature.

Envy is stirred up by comparing what we want but do not have with what others have.

The distinguishing feature of envy is the personal comparative aspect with others.  I am envious when I dislike someone because he/she has what I want but lack in some comparative way.

The root and source of envy is pride.  It is because a person’s heart has a burning desire to be superior to all others.

Envy is an internal attitude that underlies many external evil acts.

It will manifest through attitudes of malice and bitterness and various actions that overflow in tearing others down.

Envy is not only hateful in itself but it brings great discomfort to the envious person.  Proverbs 14:30 says, “….envy rots the bones…”  it is like a powerful cancer eating away on your vital organs.  Envy is offensive and full of corruption.

At the heart of all those who envy another is laziness.  Whether it be spiritual or physical laziness the outcome is the same as envy enters the soul and steals it away from God.

The person who allows envy to eat away at its centre is driven by sheer laziness in that the very thing they envy they can also attain if they open their hearts and allow God to penetrate into their very depths.

 This calls for self sacrifice, something that the envious person does not wish to do.  It requires hard work as we allow God to weed our souls from every form of selfishness and offenses.

When we allow a spirit of envy to enter our hearts we immediately close off and thwarted any attempts by the Holy Spirit to fill us.

The envious heart is one of denying God His proper place to remain the center of our hearts.

 The person who is full of envy has replaced God with an inordinate love of themselves over all others.

This leads to an unhealthy and ultimately disastrous spiritual life as the focus of the envious soul remains fixed on itself and what others think of them. They become carnal and there is confusion and every evil work.

1 Cor. 3:3 says it so clearly, “For as long as there are envying and jealousy among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves…like mere (unchanged) men?” Amp

The moment we let envy and strife in the door of our lives, we begin to live like people out there in the world.  We become like the natural, unsaved men in this scripture---fearful, powerless and defeated---instead of like supernatural, born again, Spirit filled people of God.

Jesus is coming any moment and we don’t want Him to find us spiritually sick and weak, living lives that have been poisoned by envy and strife.

The antidote to envy and strife is love in its purist form.

So let’s have Jesus find us full of love, faith and walking in victory.