“Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead always fear the Lord.
18. For then you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.” (CSB) The tenth commandment admonishes us not to covet anything that anybody else has. In fact coveting means that we want something that somebody else has. A word that is closely aligned with coveting is envy. Proverbs 23:17 tells us:“Don’t let your heart envy sinners.” We look at someone whose life in no way honors God, and we wonder why they are doing better than we are? We might say: “It looks to me like God would help me to have more than the person who is not living right.” In the first place, this is the wrong motive for serving God. If we are serving G“Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead always fear the Lord. 18. For then you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.” (CSB) The tenth commandment admonishes us not to covet anything that anybody else has. In fact coveting means that we want something that somebody else has. A word that is closely aligned with coveting is envy. Proverbs 23:17 tells us:“Don’t let your heart envy sinners.” We look at someone whose life in no way honors God, and we wonder why they are doing better than we are? We might say: “It looks to me like God would help me to have more than the person who is not living right.” In the first place, this is the wrong motive for serving God. If we are serving God for what we can get out of Him, we need to take another look at our service. The fact that someone else has more than we do is no measure of our standing with God or with the world. What another person has does not take anything away from you. The most important thing is not what we have, but what we are in our hearts. In fact, to go beyond this text, the Bible tells us not to envy anybody. Christians should rejoice in other people’s successes, and be the first to congratulate them and be proud for them. We cause ourselves a lot of problems when we think that we have to “keep up with the "Joneses.” The truth is that if you could get what the “Joneses” have, you would then want what the “Smith’s” have. I think you get the point: Be satisfied with what you have and do not worry about what other people have. If we envy someone, it is difficult for us to love them and to have a good relationship with them. It bothers me that there seems to be a lot of envy of rich people in America today. It seems to me that to build an argument on envy is to build a poor foundation for life. If somebody worked for what they have, they deserve it. If someone inherited what they have, they also deserve it. It is not any of my business how they got their wealth. If they got what they have by breaking the law, I will leave that between them, God, and the law. I just know that I do not want to waste one minute of my life envying what someone else has, no matter how they got it. Envy does not promote love, and it does not promote good relationships between people. We cannot build our lives on envy and live close to God. Our text tells us that instead of envying sinners, or anyone else, we should “fear God.” That means that we are to have the utmost reverence and respect for God, and we cannot have that if we are wasting our time on envy. Envy does not, and cannot, please God. If something cannot please God then it will certainly interfere with our relationship with Him. When we envy, we are focusing on “things” instead of on God/Jesus. When we envy, we are not concentrating on serving the Lord. When we envy, we harm our relationship with God. Envy is a sin and sin always decimates our relationship with God. We will not stop envying until we realize that it is a sin. When we realize that envy is a sin,we will know that it is not a good thing to have in our lives. We need to examine our hearts and minds and determine if there is anyone that we envy for any reason. If we discover that there is envy in our hearts, we need to confess, repent and turn from it like we would any other sin – and stop it! Why? Envy is the pits and will not bring anything good into our lives. Bro. Joe od for what we can get out of Him, we need to take another look at our service. The fact that someone else has more than we do is no measure of our standing with God or with the world. What another person has does not take anything away from you. The most important thing is not what we have, but what we are in our hearts. In fact, to go beyond this text, the Bible tells us not to envy anybody. Christians should rejoice in other people’s successes, and be the first to congratulate them and be proud for them. We cause ourselves a lot of problems when we think that we have to “keep up with the "Joneses.” The truth is that if you could get what the “Joneses” have, you would then want what the “Smith’s” have. I think you get the point: Be satisfied with what you have and do not worry about what other people have. If we envy someone, it is difficult for us to love them and to have a good relationship with them. It bothers me that there seems to be a lot of envy of rich people in America today. It seems to me that to build an argument on envy is to build a poor foundation for life. If somebody worked for what they have, they deserve it. If someone inherited what they have, they also deserve it. It is not any of my business how they got their wealth. If they got what they have by breaking the law, I will leave that between them, God, and the law. I just know that I do not want to waste one minute of my life envying what someone else has, no matter how they got it. Envy does not promote love, and it does not promote good relationships between people. We cannot build our lives on envy and live close to God. Our text tells us that instead of envying sinners, or anyone else, we should “fear God.” That means that we are to have the utmost reverence and respect for God, and we cannot have that if we are wasting our time on envy. Envy does not, and cannot, please God. If something cannot please God then it will certainly interfere with our relationship with Him. When we envy, we are focusing on “things” instead of on God/Jesus. When we envy, we are not concentrating on serving the Lord. When we envy, we harm our relationship with God. Envy is a sin and sin always decimates our relationship with God. We will not stop envying until we realize that it is a sin. When we realize that envy is a sin,we will know that it is not a good thing to have in our lives. We need to examine our hearts and minds and determine if there is anyone that we envy for any reason. If we discover that there is envy in our hearts, we need to confess, repent and turn from it like we would any other sin – and stop it! Why? Envy is the pits and will not bring anything good into our lives. Bro. Joe
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