JUST A THOUGHT ...

Episode Three
Original date created: 10-11-2007

I am unsure if I have the ability to convey a convincing message, a strong argument, or enough evidence for people to realize the crisis at hand. Either way, we should continue to pray, read our bibles, and have faith. So, in the second week of “The Seven Deadly Sins”, the topic covered was Envy.

The word Envy, other wise known as jealousy, covetousness, prejudice, or resentment is simply a green-eyed monster. Calling it a green-eyed monster doesn’t mean if you have green eyes, that you are an envious person; it means you are jealous, jealous of something, anything really. To give you an example, can you remember the last time you saw one of your colleagues, friends, or even family members get something, and you wanted to have the same thing as them, and in most cases more? This can be anything from seeing someone else getting a new luxury car, buying a new house, having the latest gadgets, and so on. Envy is a characteristic inside oneself that causes the person to want, to want what the other has so that they too have bragging rights… It wants the worst to happen to another person. Your colleague bought a new luxury car? ‘Who cares, he’s a terrible driver anyways; most likely to get in an accident soon’. Or maybe your little sister just bought a new computer, top of the line… ‘I’ll just upload a virus which causes her system to crash… Then mom and dad won’t trust Amy with the computer anymore.’ All of us have committed this sin. I know I have. I had to go out and buy the latest computer to show it off at school. In the end, I got nowhere (okay, maybe I know how to program and such, but my laptop became the center of attention among my peers). To covet isn’t only thinking about getting something better than the other person, but it can also lead to stealing, and even manipulating the situation that will cause the other person/people harm. We are potentially tempted everyday, we compare to other people, and we start to calculate what we have in comparison to other people that seem to have more than us. Envy is wishing that things are not what they are, but was much more; it is an internal sorrow; it makes you sick.

In Job chapter 5:2 it says, “Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.” (NLT) And then in Proverbs chapter 14:30, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.” (NLT) From these two verses it is only safe to conclude that being envious is only hurtful to oneself. Even in our daily lives, when has it ever been productive for us to continuously think and contemplate what another person has? Even without reading those pieces of scripture, it is obvious that spending time envying, and wanting to covet another person’s possessions is not an efficient use of your time.

It says in Proverbs chapter 3:31, “Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways.”(NAS) And then in Romans chapter 13:13, “Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or quarreling and jealousy [envy]” (NLT). With that being said, how do we cure the green-eyed monster that can easily be created in all of us? Well, the antonym to envy is Kindness.

Kindness, affection, benevolence, charity, consideration, generosity, good intention, goodness, sympathy, tact, tolerance, and love: These are all just a handful of synonyms of the word kindness. They are all equally the opposite of the word envy, and with one word, you build into all the others. Kindness, or Love as I like to put it, is compassion, a true sincerity, goodness that shines no matter how dark it becomes in one’s life.

Titus chapter 3:3 says, “Once we too were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.” Once we allow ourselves to accept one of these sins, we slowly become lured into doing more and more. It’s easy to say the solution, but at the end of the day it is up to each one of us as individuals to make the right decisions. Avoid the unrighteous and evil ways of others, lest you become tempted, and entangled in their habits.

Love is the antidote to envy; it is a life maker, life creator, and life provider. Envy only destroys these things. In James Fowler’s book ‘Faith Development in Early Childhood’ it says, “When the spine of identity is well established, it is possible to risk relating in depth to those who are different from the self.” (Page 135; paragraph 2)Now take a look at Romans chapter 6. Read the whole chapter… To give you a quick summary, it talks about the new believers in Christ, how they have died to sin, been baptized into Christ, stepped into a new life, are free from sin’s penalty, are now alive in G-D, and are living out a new story. So, let’s live this new story, and not turn back to the ways that we left behind. Let us accept Christ, renew ourselves, and continue with that path He wants us to live out.

We all had a story in which we came from before we met Christ. Yes, some of us have grown up only ‘knowing’ Him, but did we really know Him? Each day, as a believer, I get to know a bit more about G-D; it is a never-ending story, there is no limit to knowing about Him. Reach, each day, to know Him, and share the love that He has shown to you with everyone in your life.