I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT (part-29)

I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT?

ENVY AND BOASTING
There are many characteristics that should not be evident or even
detected in the lives of believers; James mentions two of them.
    But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts,
    do not boast about it or deny the truth. (James 3:14)

‘Envy’ means we have an intense yearning for something that someone
else has – possessions, money, personality or anything else. We believe
that we will not be happy or satisfied until we can get it, or achieve it.

‘Bitter envy’ is a feeling of resentment and jealousy toward another person
because of their possessions or good qualities. Did you notice the second
one in the last sentence – “good qualities”? We can envy someone because
they are well liked by others, and when we do, it is an indication that we are
not happy with the way the Lord has made us. However we need to remember
that God makes all things for our good (even though we may question it at
times). The truth is, we should never be unhappy with ourselves and our own
characteristics, but we should be unhappy about the things in our lives that are
not within God’s will.

God gives each of us the propensity to be likeable, but many fail to allow this
characteristic to develop. As a result, we can become jealous of those who have
more popularity. I believe too many people try to mimic a person who is well
liked instead of making the most of how God has made them. When we allow
the Holy Spirit to be alive and vibrant in our lives, our character will overflow
with the characteristics of Jesus.

When others see the qualities of Jesus manifested in our lives, not everyone will
like us, but there are many who will. Our focus should be on our friendship with
the Lord. If we know we are disappointing Him, then we are not going to like
ourselves very much. Sometimes this will cause us to assume others don’t like
us either, and it shows in our countenance.

It makes sense that James would mention envy after focusing on wisdom.
Worldly wisdom says we should have everything that everyone else has,
and when we don’t, we can often develop an attitude of anger, frustration,
and of course, envy. This is an indication that we are not content with how
the Lord has blessed us.
    Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content
    with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I
    leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:2)

‘Bitter envy’ can lead to other inappropriate actions. Here are
just a few examples where envy has led to other grievous acts:
    And his brothers envied him,
    but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:11)
        His brothers became envious of Joseph after he shared his dreams with
        them. His dream was that his brothers would bow down to him one day.
        The result? They sold him into slavery. If you continue reading in Genesis,
        you will discover that during a devastating famine, Joseph’s dreams came
        true. Was Joseph angry with his brothers? No. Although they meant to do
        him harm, he felt the Lord was aware of everything and turned their actions
        into good not only for Joseph, but for his brothers too. We could learn a lot
        from the attitudes of Joseph when things seemingly go bad.

    When they envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of
    the LORD, the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and
    covered the faction of Abiram. A fire was kindled in their
    company; the flame burned up the wicked. (Psalms 106:16-18)
        The children of Israel were envious of Moses on their way out of Egypt.
        The result? They created their own manmade gods to worship and many
        lost their lives at the hands of God. This gives us a good illustration of
        God’s attitude toward envy.

    For he (Pilate) knew that they had
    handed Him over because of envy. (Matthew 27:18)
        The religious people were jealous of the attention Jesus was receiving
        from others. The result? A criminal was released and Jesus was crucified.

As we have seen, ‘envy’ is not a characteristic that should be evident in God’s
children. ‘Bitter envy’ implies that not only is someone jealous, but they will
try as hard as they can to either acquire the same things of another person, or
to cause the other person to lose what they have. This could result in vandalism,
theft, or malicious gossip. Why? Because the envious person just doesn’t want
the other person to have whatever they themselves are missing.

The other negative characteristic James mentions is ‘selfish ambition’. This means
a person is constantly looking out for themselves. They are following the worldly
wisdom that encourages us to be first in our lives with no regard for others. There
is nothing wrong with healthy ambitions to improve, but whenever our desires fail
to consider how we treat others as we strive to achieve, then there is a problem. We
need to spend some time evaluating ourselves and our motivation for doing the things
we do. Why? Because God says there is punishment for those who are self-seeking.
    But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth,
    but obey unrighteousness– indignation and wrath, tribulation
    and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew
    first and also of the Greek. (Romans 2:8-9)

We may say that we are not self-seeking, but let’s look at a hypothetical situation.
Let’s say there is a group of people gathered together. Do you strive to be the center
of attention by being loud and or rude to others when they are speaking? Do you try
to tell a funnier or more dramatic story than one that has just been told (including an
exaggeration of what really happened)? What is your motivation for doing either one
of these? If it is to draw attention to yourself, then it is self-seeking.

When James says we ‘deny the truth’, he is most likely indicating that we are
hypocrites. In other words we claim to be a believer but our actions contradict
what we say, and our overall character does not represent the mindset of Jesus.

Just in case we were wondering, James
gives us the source of ‘envy’ and ‘selfish ambition’.
    Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven
    but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. (James 3:15)

He describes the source of envy in three ways:
    1. It is ‘earthly’ (it does not originate in heaven).
       Whenever something is worldly,
       it is in opposition to whatever comes from heaven.

    2. It is ‘unspiritual’ (anyone who is under the control
       of the Holy Spirit should not be envious and selfish).

    3. It is ‘demonic’ (envy and selfishness are attitudes
       that are created in folks by the devil himself).

From his description, we can see that if we possess these attitudes,
we are not under the control of the Holy Spirit. Even worse, we are
allowing Satan to have some amount of control in our lives.

We have already looked at some scriptures where envy has caused
problems. James advises us that ‘envy’ and ‘selfish ambitions’ will
create additional problems.
    For where you have envy and selfish ambition,
    there you find disorder and every evil practice.
    (James 3:16)

If we wonder when ‘envy’ and ‘selfish ambition’ are present,
we can look for these two indicators:
    1. ‘disorder’ (a restless, unsettled state).
       We can see this kind of civil unrest quite often in our world today.
       Some folks want what others have but are unwilling to work to
       achieve them. As a result of their frustrations and laziness, they
       create all kinds of unrest including destruction of properties,
       looting and even murder.

    2. evil practices’ (any actions that are contrary to what we would expect
        to see in heaven).
       Again, we can see this in our world today. Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity,
       adultery, thievery, pornography, sex slavery, and murder just to name
       a few.

As we see an increase in disorder and evil practices, we realize that many people
in our world either already have developed, or are in the process of developing
attitudes of ‘envy’ and ‘selfish ambition’. These are worldly attitudes and we are
told that we should seek the love of our Father and avoid the things of the world.
    Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone
    loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For
    everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust
    of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the
    Father but from the world. The world and its desires
    pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
    (1 John 2:15-17)

So how do we defend against developing or having these types of
ungodly characteristics? We look at what we are told in God’s Word.
    Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
    Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
    not looking to your own interests but each of you
    to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

When we obey these words, we will look at others in an entirely new
light and with a totally different attitude. We will learn to listen more
than we talk. We will learn to value others much more than we have
before. As an example
    – We will not be rude and inconsiderate to others. When they are
      speaking, we will have the courtesy to wait for them to finish
      before speaking.
    – When someone else interrupts them, we will purposely continue
      listening until they have finished speaking to us, before listening
      to the one interrupting.
    – We will never walk away from someone until they have finished
      speaking. It is not only rude, but it communicates to them that we
      are not interested in anything they have to say to us. If we do walk
      away, we should not be surprised if they talk to us less in the future.
    – When others send us a text, we will realize that they value us and
      our friendship and in most cases they are looking for a response
      from us. As a result, we will make every effort to call or send them
      a message as soon as possible.
    – If we miss a call from someone, we will return their call as soon
      as possible, because we know they have something they wanted
      to say to us. They may have wanted our advice, a sympathetic ear,
      to share something interesting or funny with us, or maybe just to
      hear our voice.
    – We will proactively contact others (phone, text, etc.) rather than
      only responding when they contact us. We will be proactive about
      enhancing our friendship.
    – In summary, we will value others above ourselves and what we
      want to do at the time.

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