Envy and Jealousy

What does the Bible say about envy and coveting? I put envy and coveting together here because they are synonyms. Jealousy is not a synonym with the two as we often make the mistake in assuming. Synonyms can be used interchangeably, which is usually the case with envy and jealousy, but not always. Try substituting envy in Exodus 34:14 "Your Lord who's name is jealous is a jealous God." God is not envious, He is jealous. And His jealousy is His possessiveness of His people for it protects us from being plucked out of His hand. Paul talks of a Godly jealousy in 2nd Corinthians 11:2. All jealousy is not bad,but do not be fooled, our jealousy is a bad jealousy 99% of the time. Jealousy causes so many "good" people to do so many "bad" things. We see it all around us. So I say leave jealousy to God and try to rid it from our lives.

James 3:13-18 "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder in every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed who's food is righteousness is sewn in peace by those who make peace." James tells us that where envy is, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. He also tells us that such jealousy and selfish ambition is earthly, natural, and demonic. Them are some pretty strong words that are straight to the point. In our walk with Christ and our choosing of the narrow path of which we are called, envy and jealousy should have no part of our lives. Let us not "drool" over what our neighbor has that we don't. We have salvation and a personal relationship with our Savior. Gifts of which we could never earn on our own at any expense, gifts of which also no man could ever take away. So you envy your brother because he has a $200,000 house and yours is only worth $50,000? Do you realize how many people don't have a home at all? Or the millions of people who rent? Or possibly those in the third world countries, those who don't know where their next meal's coming from? We need to have the mindset of Christ. We are so blessed, yet I see so many of us Christians crying about what we don't have rather than giving thanks and praise to what we do have.

Luke 15:31-32 "And he said to him son you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost but has been found." This is the end of the parable of the prodigal son and the father's telling his devoted son you are always with me and all that I have is yours. That's what God is trying to get across to us. We have what is His and that is so much that no man could ever truly comprehend it until they are united with the Father. We have a relationship with God which is the most priceless thing a man can have. Don't get me wrong though, never should we think we are better than unbelievers because of this, for that would drift us into the sin of pride. Instead we should want all to come to that knowledge and relationship with Christ.

We see Jesus telling us this in Matthew chapter 20. (This chapter's too long to type out. It's the parable of the laborers and I resolve any and all to read it if possible.) This chapter starts off with the story of the laborers. Some were hired early in the morning to work the vineyard all day for one denarius. Well the land owner went out again the third, sixth, and ninth hour and hired more people each time. Well when the end of the day came, the landowner paid them all one denarius. Now we can all understand why the early workers are a bit envious, but the landowner paid them what they agreed on. Fair is fair. That's what the Lord wants us to know. No matter when we come to him he will gift us all the same. We just need to be able to come and work for His kingdom and His namesake. And no matter when we come and how long we work for Him we should rejoice rather than be envious when another comes later and gets the same reward. We should be glad that they are saved and have heard Jesus knocking, and have opened the door to have let him in.

The Bible tells us in 2nd Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." That is the true mindset of Christ, when we think out of the spirit rather than out of our flesh. No matter what the situation or how one serves God or how one is blessed by God, let us be glad and rejoice in the fact that they are children of God, for none of us are worthy of the grace we have received which makes grace so awesome.

In the Old Testament, Joseph's brothers were very envious of him and would have killed him had it not been for Reuben and Judah. Ya I know he was sold into slavery, but it was that or death. Killing over envy, it's a serious sin that can lead to death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) For it's amazing how all sin measured to it's fullest equals death. Porn can lead to rape can lead to death. Jealousy can lead to envy can lead to death. Every sin measured at it's fullest equals death. We have to many times heard in the news of a jealous spouse who ended up shooting their spouse over jealousy because they caught them cheating with another person. Cheating lead to death, jealousy ended up leading to death, the Bible does not lie when it says the wages of sin is death. As Christians we should not have envy in our lives and any excuse against this is just pure carnal thinking. Let us leave jealousy, vengeance, and judgement to the one of whom it belongs, the Lord. A simple step to eliminate jealousy and envy from our lives is to stop comparing. Comparing will lead to one of two things; pride or envy. Both are sins, so if we stop comparing things, that may help us with this temptation.

Let's end with Isaiah 30:21 "Your ears will hear a word behind you," This is the way, walk in it". Whenever you turn to the right or to the left." Listen to that voice and it will always direct you away from jealousy and envy, for the spirit within will always tell us the way to walk rightly for the pleasing of God.

I could do blog after blog after blog on this subject and still not scratch the surface on this topic,for there are many verses on the subject that I did not even use. Envy and jealousy are things we will deal with daily. I will probably do more in the future on this topic, but my prayer right now is that we recognize this sin and the deadly effects it can have on relationships and our lives in general. Let us be strong and not give into this temptation that so often tries to snare us. With love and prayers always

C.