Envy?
A major problem in churches today is the amount of fighting and squabbling between the members of the church. We all worship God, but can’t seem to get along with each other. This has been a problem since the beginning of the church. James spoke about it in James 4.
He says that the wars and fighting among us all comes from the lusts inside us. We all want what we want, and we don’t let go. Envy and pride will destroy any relationship, and do even more damage in the church. Our lusts and envying are in vain, as he says in James 4:2 that we lust, but don’t have it, that we desire, but cannot get, and that we fight but we don’t have what we’re fighting for. Basically, we’re trying so hard to get what we want, but in the end, we don’t have it. What’s the point? We should all forget about ourselves a lot of the time, and do what God calls us to do. As Christians, we’re all on the same side, we shouldn’t be fighting among each other.
James takes it a bit farther than just churches and people though. He says in James 4:3 that it affects our relationship with God as well, saying that we ask, but don’t receive because we’re asking from our lusts, and not from a desire to do God’s will. We can’t be on good terms with both the world and with God; we have to choose one or the other. We need to have a humble spirit when we ask things of God, and make sure we’re not asking for things out of envy or out of our lusts. Otherwise, God will not listen.
So, what kind of person does God give to? James 1:6 says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We need to not only stay apart from the evil of the world, but we need to be humble about it too. As soon as we start making a big deal about how righteous we are, we lose it. We need to submit ourselves to God. James 4:10 says to humble ourselves in the sight of God, and He will lift us up.
It’s hard resisting envy and lust, especially when we think that someone around us has something better than we do, but we need to resist. God will give us strength to resist if we ask Him. Think of all the trouble envy has caused throughout the years. So much trouble in the church and in the world could have been avoided if people had just backed down and prayed. How many churches split over something stupid like the color of a carpet? Do we really want something like that on our conscience?
