Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Ah my Friends, today I found myself in a strange quandary; I couldn’t decide what Bit to use from the multitude of choices available on this particular topic. Eventually though, the Sprit intervened and said; ‘Use that one; it’s the most powerful, also the shortest and gets the message across with the least preamble.’ (smile) And as you guessed, the topic is the ‘green eyed monster;’ envy, jealousy, call it what you will, but it’s undoubtedly a very destructive and strife causing emotion. Now what does it all mean? It’s simply a strong desire, striving, wanting, or craving for something someone else has, and brings out the basest of negative emotions in us. It doesn’t matter how the person acquired whatever it is; be it personal looks, clothes, cars, a beautiful wife, a big house or some other possession, all we know is that we want that particular thing, or one like it, or better yet, a bigger and/or better one. But we either can’t have it, which rankles our spirits, or we go overboard and kill ourselves working to get it. And heaven help those who stand in our way! Oh my people, Sol hit the nail right on the head when he declared that ‘Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy?’ No one really. ‘For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare on the day of vengeance.’ (Prov.6:34) And that’s a fact my Friends, for most of the wars and strife in man’s strife-torn history has been over jealousy and envy; many times over rather petty stuff too. But such is the nature of man. Even the Lord, our God laid down a stringent proviso to the Israelites when He brought them out of bondage from Egypt; ‘Thou shalt have no other Gods but me.’ Neither should they make themselves idols. ‘Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.’ (Ex.20:3-5) And later on He reiterates that solemn message about idolatry. ”For thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.’ (Ex.34:14) That’s jealousy in the sense of the Lord protecting His territory, not wanting anyone to intrude on it. Things will be fine if no one oversteps their bounds. But in our case, jealousy and envy is more about overstepping our bounds, stepping on someone else’s property, and not being able to have it, or something similar, creates a seething cauldron of bitterness in our souls, causing us to sometimes lose all sense of reason and lash out either physically, emotionally or both. But it certainly drives us crazy with longing. Look at how unrequited lovers behave, or those passed over for promotion, even when we know that the person deserves it more than us. But that doesn’t prevent us from being envious and bitter. Here’s a good example from Bruh Paul’s letter to Titus, where he’s talking about the basis of Christian ethics. ‘For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.’ (Tit.2:3) Oh my people that’s what jealousy and envy can do to us, especially when we live to serve divers lusts and pleasures of the flesh. And it’s one of the soft building blocks on which we’ve built our society, that’s why it’s imploded on us. Everyone was encouraged to buy more, build bigger, move ahead of your neighbours or catch up to them; the keep up with the Jones’ syndrome. And it’s all well and good to improve our situations my brethren, but at what expense eh? In the first place, too much wanting leads to greed, which eventually leads to fraud and other wrongdoing when we can’t genuinely afford our wants. To help us along, and encourage us though, the already greedy wealthy gives us credit and find ingenious ways to put and keep us in debt while lining their pockets even further, but that’s permissible, for the society prospers economically. But sadly it’s a false prosperity, built on sinking sand, a porous foundation. Well not even sinking sand, but rather hot air and fanciful dreams with no substance or basis in reality. And when the bubble burst, as they all do at some time, and everything crash, everybody hold deh head and bawl, ‘Poor me!’ But then it’s too late my Friends. As Eliphaz said when he rebuked Job; ‘For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.’ (Job 5:2) Ah my people, it’s a sad road we travel, one that’s only setting us up for disaster, when we follow the dictates of the enemy and just live to keep up with the Jones’. For have no doubts about it, envy and jealousy are the handiwork of Beelzebub. We’ll continue with this tomorrow, for there’s much more to say on the subject. Till then, walk safely with God. Much LOVE!…the wise keep their eyes on God…not their neighbour’s possessions…
Ah my Friends, today I found myself in a strange quandary; I couldn’t decide what Bit to use from the multitude of choices available on this particular topic. Eventually though, the Sprit intervened and said; ‘Use that one; it’s the most powerful, also the shortest and gets the message across with the least preamble.’ (smile) And as you guessed, the topic is the ‘green eyed monster;’ envy, jealousy, call it what you will, but it’s undoubtedly a very destructive and strife causing emotion. Now what does it all mean? It’s simply a strong desire, striving, wanting, or craving for something someone else has, and brings out the basest of negative emotions in us. It doesn’t matter how the person acquired whatever it is; be it personal looks, clothes, cars, a beautiful wife, a big house or some other possession, all we know is that we want that particular thing, or one like it, or better yet, a bigger and/or better one. But we either can’t have it, which rankles our spirits, or we go overboard and kill ourselves working to get it. And heaven help those who stand in our way! Oh my people, Sol hit the nail right on the head when he declared that ‘Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy?’ No one really. ‘For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare on the day of vengeance.’ (Prov.6:34) And that’s a fact my Friends, for most of the wars and strife in man’s strife-torn history has been over jealousy and envy; many times over rather petty stuff too. But such is the nature of man. Even the Lord, our God laid down a stringent proviso to the Israelites when He brought them out of bondage from Egypt; ‘Thou shalt have no other Gods but me.’ Neither should they make themselves idols. ‘Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.’ (Ex.20:3-5) And later on He reiterates that solemn message about idolatry. ”For thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.’ (Ex.34:14) That’s jealousy in the sense of the Lord protecting His territory, not wanting anyone to intrude on it. Things will be fine if no one oversteps their bounds. But in our case, jealousy and envy is more about overstepping our bounds, stepping on someone else’s property, and not being able to have it, or something similar, creates a seething cauldron of bitterness in our souls, causing us to sometimes lose all sense of reason and lash out either physically, emotionally or both. But it certainly drives us crazy with longing. Look at how unrequited lovers behave, or those passed over for promotion, even when we know that the person deserves it more than us. But that doesn’t prevent us from being envious and bitter. Here’s a good example from Bruh Paul’s letter to Titus, where he’s talking about the basis of Christian ethics. ‘For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.’ (Tit.2:3) Oh my people that’s what jealousy and envy can do to us, especially when we live to serve divers lusts and pleasures of the flesh. And it’s one of the soft building blocks on which we’ve built our society, that’s why it’s imploded on us. Everyone was encouraged to buy more, build bigger, move ahead of your neighbours or catch up to them; the keep up with the Jones’ syndrome. And it’s all well and good to improve our situations my brethren, but at what expense eh? In the first place, too much wanting leads to greed, which eventually leads to fraud and other wrongdoing when we can’t genuinely afford our wants. To help us along, and encourage us though, the already greedy wealthy gives us credit and find ingenious ways to put and keep us in debt while lining their pockets even further, but that’s permissible, for the society prospers economically. But sadly it’s a false prosperity, built on sinking sand, a porous foundation. Well not even sinking sand, but rather hot air and fanciful dreams with no substance or basis in reality. And when the bubble burst, as they all do at some time, and everything crash, everybody hold deh head and bawl, ‘Poor me!’ But then it’s too late my Friends. As Eliphaz said when he rebuked Job; ‘For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.’ (Job 5:2) Ah my people, it’s a sad road we travel, one that’s only setting us up for disaster, when we follow the dictates of the enemy and just live to keep up with the Jones’. For have no doubts about it, envy and jealousy are the handiwork of Beelzebub. We’ll continue with this tomorrow, for there’s much more to say on the subject. Till then, walk safely with God. Much LOVE!…the wise keep their eyes on God…not their neighbour’s possessions…
SCRIP-BITS 