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Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Green with Envy {Proverbs 23}

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.

Envy is just an illusion though.  Just look at what Satan did in the Garden; he continues to tempt people into not delighting in what God has given us, but to look at what He withheld.

Image result for proverbs 23:17


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.