Green with Envy {Proverbs 23}
12:30 AM
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
I
don’t think you are intentionally envious.
But every now and then, you notice someone with new clothes or a new car or a new house, and you are
caught off guard and find yourself with an envious comment on your lips or in
your heart. Or perhaps, you look at the
successes and financial gain of others, and yet, you can’t seem to get ahead,
and so you wonder why God would bless so-and-so, and not you.
We
are not to envy sinners – those who do not know the Lord. They have no regard for Him and see no need
for Him. This verse helps to alert us to
the fact that our hearts are prone to look for pleasure in what others possess
rather than what God has provided.
Envy
is dangerous. It is a temptation that
calls us to point our finger at God and say, “what you have given me is not
good enough.” It calls us to entertain
ways to get what others have. To lie,
cheat, steal, use others – and disregard God.
Envy is a bold sin. And
unfortunately, none of us are immune to it.
What is it that you envy in others?
Ask God to search your heart so that you might see it plainly.
There
is a remedy for envy. It’s not something
new. “…always continue to fear the Lord.” If discontentment breeds displeasure with
God, then the fear of God frees us to delight in Him. Our posture cannot be looking over the fence
at what God has given others, but rather we should be looking up at Him. When we see the holiness of God, envy loses
its power. Envy of what others have is
eliminated when we believe that God is the greatest treasure.
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