Envy, Jealousy, and Covetousness
By Neil Elmer, author of PreScriptures for Life
As you may noticed from recent posts, I have been sharing information and ideas to help people gain freedom and peace in life. There are many things within ourselves that limit achievement and happiness. We are not helped much by our culture and society.
This week we’re going to expose the negative aspects of a few strong emotions—envy, jealousy, and covetousness—and reveal how to be set free of the consequences of these destructive beliefs.
Definitions of envy and jealousy from Wikipedia
Envy (also called invidiousness) is best defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it.
Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, such as a relationship, friendship, or love. Jealousy often consists of a combination of emotions such as anger, sadness, and disgust.
Merriam-Webster online dictionary meaning of covetousness:
1: marked by inordinate desire for wealth or possessions or for another's possessions
2: having a craving for possession <covetous of power>
As we can see, the meanings of the three words are very similar. Dealing with these three emotions can be handled in the same manner. The common thread is the desire for something that does not belong to one’s self.
This desire leads to such destructive consequences that God set out to protect His people by informing them of how harmful it is. In leading us away from certain problems He incorporated sound guidance in the tenth commandment of the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy 5:21 (NIV) You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Scriptures say that covetousness is idolatry.
Colossians 3:5 (NIV) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Scriptures say that covetousness is a form of lust.
James 4:1-3 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Mark 7:21-23 (NIV) For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.
Envy, jealousy, and covetousness lead to social unrest and trouble. Examples include: robbery, stealing, violence, murder, rioting, bribery, perjury, extortion, intimidation, and war. Squabbling and discontent due to jealousy tears apart a family. This especially comes to the surface at times when inheritances are being distributed. Envy for power and authority or personal recognition and approval can be divisive, causing disunity, and the splitting of business associations and even church congregations. It is easy to see why God hates covetousness.
Covetousness opens the door for lust to gain strength in our lives. Lust gives Satan tremendous power to tempt us at our points of weakness. When and if we give into the temptation, it becomes a negative, downward spiral as we continue to reap negative rewards which rob us of God’s best. To make matters worse, Satan further condemns us for taking his suggestion.
Let’s further expose the work of the enemy here! What began as envy grew into lust and then proceeded to shame and guilt after acting on the original emotion. It’s a serious matter to understand how one weakness can lead to such devastation.
Desires of other’s possessions lead to expectations. When we fail to get these expectations, anger sets in. The anger can be directed at those who have what we want, at God, or at our self for our own failures and shortcomings.
Desires, when acted on in ways that wrong people, can open the door for guilt to set in. When we feel we are at risk of not getting or losing the things we strongly desire, our fears and anxieties grow. It should be noted that a simple emotion doesn’t operate independently but often affects other emotions.
Comparison and competition open the door for desiring what someone else has. For example, in childhood, the skills and gifts of siblings are often compared. The more this comparison was heard, the more it hurt. Then the desire to have what the other had becomes important in order to get free of the pain.
Getting Free of Envy, Jealousy and Covetousness
Using the Prayer to Get Free as posted in a previous blog, confess the specific instances of desiring other people’s possessions, skills, or gifts in Part One of the prayer. In Part Four of the prayer, ask Jesus to remove the envy, jealousy or covetousness.
If parents or others have hurt you by comparing you to others, forgive them in Part One of the prayer. In Part Four, ask Jesus to remove the bitterness and anger. If you have been responsible for the comparison, then forgive yourself. This can be accomplished in Part One of the prayer. In Part Four, ask for any self-bitterness or anger to be removed.
If you grew up in a family that was always concerned about what other people have, then there is probably a generational root of covetousness. Break this generational curse by renouncing the generational curse off past, present, and future generations. In Part Four of the Prayer to Get Free, ask that the curse be removed.
There may be words and vows that need to be renounced whether said or agreed to within yourself. Examples might be “I never will be happy unless I have…” or “if I am like them, people will like me.” Seemingly innocent words can set-up a person for major struggles and pain. Renounce the words and vows in Part One and ask that these be removed in Part Four.
In Part Five of the Prayer to Get Free, truth can be replaced for the lies that have been controlling our life.
==========================
Neil Elmer is author of the book PreScriptures for Life: A Believer's Guide to Praying Scripture. His ministry helps people achieve peace in life and be set free from the bondages of sin and oppression.
PreScriptures for Life
$15.95 Harvest Day Books
thank you. I was looking for Biblical wisdom regarding covetousness and envy. Your post ministered to me.
Posted by: gaby | 08/31/2011 at 08:19 PM