God does not envy

I am continuing to look at Paul’s words on Love as it is a description of the Father –The God Who is over all through all and in all¹….

The God in whom all people live, move and have their being² for all things are from Him, through Him and to Him.³

Rather than look at the passage on love as something we must strive to do I want to see the nature and character of our heavenly Father. If God is Love as John wrote⁴ then God does not envy according to 1Co 13:4 – Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy;

What is envy?

Envy is areaction to lacking something. Jealousy is a reaction to the threat of losing something (usually someone). source

Of course God our Father does not lack anything for all things are His by right of creation. Col 1:16

For by Him(Christ) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions

or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

The religious Jewish leaders were envious of Jesus. Satan drove them to destroy Jesus out of envy. What did Jesus have that they and their father Satan wanted? Everything! Jesus had everything as Paul said in Colossians 1:16 “all things were created through Him and for Him”

Mat 27:18 For he(Pilate) knew that they(Chief Priests) had handed Him over because of envy.

Envy will drive a person to destroy the one they envy. If they cannot get what that person has, then they would rather destroy them so that the person cannot keep having it. But of course Jesus was raised from the dead and is the HEIR of all things from His Father—and we who believe are joint/co heirs with Him.

Matthew used the word phthonos G5355which has been translated as envy. Phthonos means “ill will” and is akin to another Greek word – phtheirō which means; to spoil (by any process) to ruin, defile, destroy.

The Chief Priests were filled with ill-will and were set on bringing ruin on Jesus the rightful heir and Messiah of Israel. They wanted to spoil and to defile God’s chosen one….out of envy.

We see the same ruinous envy in the story of Jacob’s 12 sons

Act 7:9 “And the patriarchs(Jacobs 12 sons), becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him

The sons of Jacob were envious of what they did not have….the favour of their father who gave Joseph a many coloured coat, which to me speaks of the anointing of the Chosen One. The manifold wisdom of God. So if they could not have it, neither would Joseph…But God raised Joseph up out of the pit just as He has done for Jesus….and us.

Again we see envy in it’s ugliness when Paul preached at the Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica

Act 17:4 And some of them(Jews) were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

Act 17:5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

The Jews who did not believe Paul were moved with envy to do something ruinous to Paul and Silas and those who helped them. They saw that great multitudes believed upon Jesus –which would mean less money in their offering at the synagogue….and less glory for them…as most turned to Jesus in their city. Again we see that envy is driven by the notion that I lack something that they have…and I will destroy them if I cannot have it.

God does not envy for God is love

There is no lack in God our Father. He possesses all things and gives everything away. He does not hold onto anything but is always releasing and setting free that which is His. Love is always flowing outwards….The one who lacks is the one who does not see God. If you see lack inside your heart then you will covet and envy.

But the one who sees Jesus as their only life sees no lack and thus does not envy. For you died –you were crucified with Christ—IT IS NO LONGER YOU THAT LIVE….but Christ Who lives in you.

Christ Jesus the One who lacks nothing…the Heir of all things…the possessor of heaven and earth! He is the ONE living in you….AS you. No longer I that live—Christ lives in me—Yet the life I now live in the flesh–I(Christ I)live by the faith of the Son of God..(Gal 2:20)

You are a new creature–Jesus Christ lives in your heart –and IS YOUR HEART!! He knows no lack. He/you look always to Father for all things–for Father is the Source of Life. If you see yourself as a separate being from Jesus then you will only see yourself as empty, always needing to be filled up again and again. But the truth is that you are FULL AND COMPLETE IN HIM. The truth is that Christ Jesus lives in your heart by faith….not in a little room some where….BUT HE IS FILLING YOU FULL WITH HIMSELF permanently.

Because Jesus is your life—your very heart–you are complete in Him….and being made complete in Him you have no lack and dwell in perfect contentedness resting in Father’s love.

It is the Liar–the Father of Lies who suggests to your mind that you lack something. He sees himself as separate from God, and imagines that he can become God through his own resources. This is the carnal mind. The carnal mind is the mind of the Serpent who said “you will be like God knowing good and evil”⁵ The truth was that they already were like God, they were made in the image and likeness of God. The Serpent lied by suggesting that they were NOT like God and needed to do something to be like God.

Because you believe in Jesus Christ–God has made you ONE SPIRIT with His Son..and therefore with Him.

1Co 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

If you are ONE SPIRIT with God…then you are complete in Him and lack nothing….Where is any room for envy? You lack nothing if you are complete in Him. And you are complete in Him.

The question is Do you choose to believe it?

To not believe that you are complete in Christ is a setting aside of the Grace of God and a seeking to establish your own righteousness through self effort and self sufficiency…All delusions of the Serpent.