Kingdom Living -

Conduct ourselves worthy 

Don’t Be Condemned

We’ve all been there and experienced jealousy and/or envy, whether on the receiving end or the giving end. I suppose being human beings; there’s a level of understanding that these can be normal human emotions, particularly as we are all trying to perfect our walk of faith and live according to the Spirit of God as we wrestle with our fleshly human desires. To some degree, I am not sure that experiencing those emotions is actually a bad thing… However, the actual bad thing is when you recognise those emotions within yourself and then you choose not to submit yourself to God to rid those emotions from your life. It’s the difference between being aware of it and trying to rid yourself of it and being aware of it and expanding space to accommodate it in your life because you think you have a justified reason for it.

This blog post is all about exploring and unpacking jealousy and envy, what happens when you make room for it in your life, and the devastating and sometimes long-lasting, even fatal, consequences it can have if left unchecked. This post is to raise awareness of jealousy, whether in you or your close relationships, so that you can make intentional decisions on moving forward. It’s not about condemnation because the Word of God is given to us as a tool for construction, building up – for correction and instruction in righteousness, not to cut us down when we miss the mark.

What’s Your Relationship Like?

One thing for us to be aware of at the outset is that it is pretty tricky for jealousy and/or envy to gain a strong hold over your emotions if you are in an actual intimate and consistent relationship with God. Why? Because when you’re in an intimate and committed consistent relationship, you have regular communication. With God, you’re constantly communing with Him in your heart in your everyday life moments. Now, I’m definitely not trying to hold myself out as holier than art… because I’m not. Like you, I’m human! I have those moments when ungodly thoughts present themselves in my mind, and I recognise that I have to do that by casting down and submitting every thought to the knowledge of God. It’s a habit that we must consistently teach ourselves and exercise, and then eventually, the brain does it as second nature. We do have to remember that any thought does not align with God’s Word is not from God.

Who Rules?

Whether we think we have cause to believe it, even if we feel that we can submit good and cogent arguments why that thought/emotion is actually justified, if that thought isn’t godly, it needs to be cast down before it takes root in our lives. All we must do is return our minds to the Garden of Eden… The first trick of Satan is to plant a seed of doubt by way of thought about what God really said. Adam and Even knew good and well what God said, but now the serpent came along and planted an ungodly thought, they tried to justify it because it fitted with the narrative in their own mind.

Lean Not To Your Own Understanding – This is at the absolute core of it all. If you’re in an intimate relationship with God and truly trust His Word by FAITH, not by sight, or even according to your own understanding, then you’ll have less difficulty in trusting HIM despite whatever you see in the natural world around you. Now, I am not saying it is easy… Oh no! But God is not a man that He should lie, so if we trust Him in His Word, we have the blessed assurance that whatever happens, however it works out, it will indeed surely all work together for our good – Why? We are called and living according to His purposes, not our motives or desires.

So now that I’ve laid the foundation for identifying how this thing can take root (and, if not checked, form a very strong hold over your life), we can unpack what it looks like in everyday life.

 Prioritise, above all else, cultivating a committed and consistent relationship with God through reading and meditating (thinking in stillness and prayer) on His Word.

Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit is checking you. If you continuously ignore the Holy Spirit, you quench its fire, and your conscience will become seared, and God will give you over to the power of your evil desires to rule you and your wicked actions. 1 Timothy 4:2

Be vulnerable before God. God knows your heart, for He made you. He sees right through you, and there is no part of you that is hidden from Him. When you sin, don’t do what Adam and Eve done by running away and hiding – Your heart cannot be hidden from God. Practice humility. Standing before God, admitting you have these emotions and asking God to help you rid yourself of them. If you genuinely and sincerely mean it, He will help you.

Don’t feel condemned; God is bountiful in grace. If you feel convicted of these emotions, approach God honestly and don’t feel condemned. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world. Therefore, the Word is not to blame, but to build each of us up in the most holy faith.

Be careful how you conduct yourself. If you know you’re struggling in this area, be very careful how you conduct yourself and try to spend more time with God to get your heart right. As we’ve seen, jealousy and envy are destructive if left unchecked.

Be careful with whom you share yourself with. Not everyone will be happy that you have a crown. Each example shows it is the people closest to you that are more prone to have destructive emotions in response to the glory of God on your life.