THE GREEN EYED MONSTER...

How well are you acquainted with the infamous green eyed monster? Maybe you have heard of this horrible tyrant but do not intimately know him.  Being a woman, I have certainly noticed how the green eyed monster has destroyed and caused utter ruin in the lives of those who develop a friendship with him and it’s the female gender that this tormentor primarily preys on.  How is it that we would ever allow something so terrible as the green eyed monster to sink his nasty claws in us?   What are some of the telltale signs that show us that we’ve allowed the serious sin of envy to creep in and poison our hearts?  Why is it extremely important that we purpose to slay this monster and eliminate him from our lives as soon as possible?

I believe the root cause of our struggle with the sin of envy lies in the fact that many of us are not content with who God created us to be.  We also choose not to be thankful for our appearance, the natural abilities we have and the gifts that God has blessed us with. We are too often discontented with our inherited physical features that are really what make us unique and special.   Many of us believe the lie that God has made mistakes in not giving us some of the physical and spiritual blessings that we feel we deserve.  We may truly believe that we've somehow been cheated  out of something good by our Creator.  The problem lies in the fact that we do not trust that our God knows what is best for us and will always equip us to accomplish exactly what He has called us to do here on earth.  

Maybe you are like I was and you're not even aware of the fact that you may be wrestling with the sin of envy.  Here are some definite questions that you can honestly ask yourself to find out if you're battling with the green eyed monster: 
1)  Do you ever secretly “wish” your life were different?

2)  Have you ever wished your husband was like....
3)  Do you wish that your children were like…. 
4)  Do you wish that your family was more like…
5)  Have you ever dreamed for your house to be like…
6)  Do you wish that your body was like…. 
7)  Do you hope to someday have possessions like….
8)  Do you wish you had talents like….  

When we have discontented and unthankful hearts, we are automatically inviting that horrible green eyed tormentor into our lives and it turns us into very miserable people.  If we choose to constantly compare ourselves with others looks, talents, abilities and possessions, it leaves no room for us to enjoy the blessings that God has so graciously given to us.  The worst part about battling with the sin of envy is that when it's left to fester, it causes rotting in our hearts.  Envy won't be satisfied with destroying our lives alone, it will continue to cause destruction in every relationship we have.  It is a disease of the heart and doesn’t only attack adult women, sadly this intense struggle often begins to cause problems for many girls at a very early age.

I don’t remember exactly when this dreadful ogre and I were introduced but I do admit that we became very close friends while I was growing up.  As I think back on my childhood, my earliest memories of struggling with envy began around the age of 5 years old when I entered into grade school.  I compared myself to other girl’s looks, talents, abilities, how many friends they had and what clothes they wore to school.  Pretty pathetic to think that someone so young could be trapped in such a horrible thought process, but it’s a common problem we as parents must realize needs to be addressed in our children as well as ourselves.  I often imagined my life as someone else and focused on how all of my friends had more baby dolls or Barbie’s than I did.  I remember being so jealous that my friend had a Barbie dream house with the 3 floors and the elevator which I never did.  This strong desire to have what other girls had way back in kindergarten just proves that Satan will use whatever measure he can as early as he can to begin the process of destruction he has planned for our lives.    

Sad to say, I have allowed that nasty green eyed monster to cause me so much emotional pain for most of my life and the battle only intensified as I entered into adulthood.  I envied other women who were talented, beautiful, had no budget to follow, had husbands who would do whatever they wanted them to, whose kids seemed perfect, who could eat whatever they wanted and still be thin.  Sounds like pretty shallow thinking now doesn’t it!  It’s a sad way to live your life constantly comparing yourself to others and what they have that you believe you don’t.  For years I wished my husband were more like…  I wished my children were more like….  I wished I were more like….   I wished my house were like… and on and on!  My sin of envy was causing me to put myself in constant competition with those around me that I thought had life better than I did.  I had an insatiable craving for approval, praise and recognition for things I accomplished.  When others were praised or recognized for things they did, it greatly pained me inside because I was extremely jealous that they received honor and I did not.  How sad!!!  Instead of being thankful and genuinely happy for someone else’s accomplishments, I was slowly being poisoned by my selfishness and jealousy which is exactly what my Enemy had planned.  Instead of me focusing on giving praise to other people, I was more focused on myself and the attention I thought I deserved from others.

Why is the sin of envy so dangerous and destructive and why is it so important to get rid of this green eyed monster as soon as possible?  Envy is quite possibly the most vicious of all of the sins we may battle with.  King Solomon shows us this in Proverbs 27:4, “Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” 

Many of us would think that the most destructive sins would be anger and wrath, but the Bible here refers to envy as being even worse.  It has been proven medically in cases where envy even begins to deteriorate our bones.  The Bible warns us in Proverbs 14:30,  "A sound heart is life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones."  If you’ve ever heard my testimony, you know that I am a living example that unresolved stresses in a person’s soul can most definitely cause many health problems in a person’s physical body.  Because God created our body, soul and spirit to all be connected, what we struggle within our soul can also eventually affect some area of our body.

 I praise the God of the universe for allowing the blinders to my sin of envy to come off and causing me to ‘see’ that I needed to slay that horrible green eyed monster!  That green eyed bully and I do not wrestle much anymore for I no longer allow him to be my close companion.  I got rid of the rotten envy when I finally humbled myself on my knees before God and admitted that I was a very envious person.  I acknowledged my sin of envy before my God who already knew it was there and begged His forgiveness which gave me a pure heart.  Once I confessed, my heart was finally clean and purified of the poison.  Now whenever that nasty green eyed bully tries to mess with me, I tell him that I’m thankful for my life and that I’m genuinely happy for others who have what I don't have.  If we are truly loving others with the unconditional love of Christ, then there will be no room in our hearts for jealousy.  I am now humbled and extremely content with ALL of the wonderful blessings that God has graciously bestowed on me that I certainly do not deserve.  I have also realized that it’s not a person’s talent, money, possessions or looks that make them special, it is the fruit of the Spirit that is evident in someone’s life that makes them admirable.  Galatians 5:22 tells us what those most desirable characteristics are.  “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” These are the qualities that our God, as well as most people truly value in a person, not the outward and material characteristics.

Do you constantly compare yourself with others talents, appearance, treasures and abilities?  Are you plagued by thoughts of inadequacy that torture you day and night?  If so, then you yourself may be battling with that nasty green eyed monster. I believe this cute little name ‘the green eyed monster’ is quite deceiving and does a good job of masking the seriousness and destructiveness of the sin of envy.  As soon as we recognize that Satan is trying to cause us misery by tempting us to be envious of someone else, we must immediately thank God for all of the blessings He’s given us and confess our sin of wanting what someone else has. We must be on guard to our Enemy's schemes to bring about our destruction. Slaying the green eyed monster through confession of our sin of envy is the key to finding the peace, joy and contentment that we’re all searching for.  May today be the day we finally get rid of that nasty bully once and for all!