by Dona Hake
Today we will go back to 1 Corinthians 13 and think about what God’s love is not. God’s love does not permit us to be envious. Yesterday, I shared with you that godliness with contentment brings great gain to us, and I believe that one of the sure way our hearts could open us up to envy would be if we are not content in what the Lord has blessed us with.
God desires that we guard our hearts with all diligence for this is the place in which He dwells. Proverbs 4:23 speaks to us and tells us why:
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above
all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”
God desires that we allow no room in our heart for anything that could poison it, and cause it destruction. He understands that it only takes a little bit of something bad that could become very big and destructive to our love walk and His will for our life. As we look at envy today, we will see it’s power and how it could poison our soul. Envy denotes a longing to possess something that someone else has. Here is a quote that will make it even clearer for us:
“Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.”
Harold Coffin
First of all I want to say that anyone of us can fall prey to this sin apart from the help of God.
The devil can trick us into thinking it is okay to feel certain feelings such as envy . He will try to convince us that it is okay to feel envious as long as we don’t talk about it. You know…just keep it hidden. He cleverly understands the whole concept of hiding things from others and putting on a front of looking spiritual or good while the inside of you is being eaten up by a poison and weakening in your walk with the Lord. Remember this for the Word tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 “…Satan himself poses as a messenger of heavenly light…”
Satan may try to deceive us, and cause us to be comfortable with any sin such as the sin of envy, but let us be sober and vigilant for he seeks to devour us with such deception. As we purpose to grow in the love of God, we will be grounded in the fact that love simply is NOT envious!
Lord, help us this day to be vigilant and very cautious over our hearts. Help us to recognize such sins as envy that we can quickly weed it out of our soul and be free to serve You in greater ways. Continue to remind us of all that Your love is and all that it is not. We thank you for Your Word as it leads, guides and protects our hearts everyday!