Message: "How to Cut Envy Out of My Life"
"The Greatest Barrier to Finding God's Purpose for Your Life"
by Ed Hale
on July 5, 2009

Click arrow to start the video.  Please be patient as video downloads.  Wait time is dependent on the speed of your connection, but usually begins within a few seconds.
 

²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

What is Envy?
* Resenting God's goodness in other people's lives.
* Ignoring God's goodness in my own life.

Four Reasons to avoid envy:

1. It distracts me from my life goal. (Luke 9:62)
   Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
2. It causes fights & quarrels. (James 4:1-2)
   1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You 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. It leads to other sins.
   (James 3:16) For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
   (Matthew 27:18) For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
4. It makes me miserable. (Proverbs 14:30)
   A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
    

Five Steps to cutting envy out of my life:

Step 1 - Don't compare yourself to others.
(2 Corinthians 10:12)  We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
(Galatians 6:4) Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
Step 2 - Celebrate your uniqueness (Psalm 139:13)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
Step 3 - Be content with what you have.
(Job 20:20) Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.
(Phil 4:11) I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
Step 4 - React to others in love. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
Step 5 - Look at life from God's viewpoint. (Colossians 3:2)
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The antidote for ENVY is to be so caught up in fulfilling God's purpose for your life, that everything else is just unimportant by comparison.