I had one of those really fantastic "Aha!" moments at SWITCH tonight. I figured out something I have kind of been seeing and learning for awhile now, but tonight it really just clicked. It was one of those so-amazing-it-gave-me-goosebumps-kind-of-thing. God is awesome. :)
I have always loved the beginning of the book of John. I am going to post it here just so you can read it with me and see what I am talking about:
"In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:1-5
I have always been confused about the name, "The Word." As a child I learned that it meant Jesus, so I always thought you were just supposed to replace "The Word" with "Jesus" in your head when you read it. I thought it was just one of those weird Bible translation things that you just have to learn.
Well, tonight at SWITCH I encountered two more verses from John, which I had read many times before, and everything just clicked.
"So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." John 1:14
"You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!" John 5:39
Okay, so what was my revelation tonight? Jesus is literally THE WORD! That Bible you have on your shelf or bedside table or in your iPhone... That is Jesus! The whole point of Scripture is to lead us to Christ and teach us about him. He says he came to fulfill the law, that he IS the law! I'm sorry if this seems really obvious to you, but I honestly had never fully thought of this before, and it is just blowing my mind.
For the past few months I have had this intense passion and thirst for the Bible. I mean, I have been more consistent with my daily bible reading than I probably ever have been in my life. Every morning it is the first thing I do the minute I get up, and I always hate when it is time to stop and get ready for the day. Many days I truly wish I could just spend the whole day reading the Word. I'm not saying this to make me look good or boast of myself. It is TOTALLY God and has nothing to do with me. Seriously, he gets all the glory.
I have kind of been wondering lately why I have been feeling this way, and tonight it totally made sense. I have been obsessed with the Bible because I am obsessed with Christ! It truly is the living water he talks about in John 4. I just can't get over it! No wonder the Bible has such power... it has the power of Christ! :D
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Envy
So, I have kind of been thinking about envy for the past month, first when God brought it up to me as something I need to get out of my life, and then at SWITCH when many of the girls in my group kept mentioning envy as something they really struggle with, too. I think envy is one of those sins that is so subtle and so easy to fall into, that we don't really like to think about it or admit to it. It's not like murder or theft or lying which require action. It is a sin that takes place solely in your heart. That's pretty scary to me.
My first thought was "What is envy, anyway?" Isn't it like jealousy? I knew there was difference somehow, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was. So I looked it up on dictionary.com:
en⋅vy
–noun
1. a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
OUCH!
As opposed to jealousy:
jeal⋅ous⋅y
–noun,
1. jealous resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself.
So envy is wanting what someone else has, while jealousy is resentment of someone else's success/advantage. For me that really cleared up why it is not sin when God is jealous for us. Because he is the only one who deserves us, and he totally should resent when we give our worship to something else! But that is another blog post entirely.
Back to envy. I was really convicted when I realized that envy is born out of discontentment. If you are truly content, there is no way you can be envious. This was really tough to swallow because if you had asked me if I am content with my life, I would have said, "Yes, definitely!" And I wouldn't have meant to lie, because I really thought I was content.
Being aware of the cause of envy in my life has helped me so much in trying to defeat it. Now when I see someone's perfect house, and my first response is to think, "Oh, I wish my house looked like that. Why can't I have her life?" instead of giving into my desire to envy, I can think about why I love my house and life so much, and how many blessings God has given me. Praying for a spirit of contentedness is how I am learning to fight envy.
One other thought: While envy, or coveting, is definitely a sin, discontent is not always a sin. Discontentment can move us towards all sorts of awesome things God has planned for us. It becomes a problem when, instead of moving us to prayer, thankfulness, and change, we let discontentment make us ungrateful, impatient, and envious.
My first thought was "What is envy, anyway?" Isn't it like jealousy? I knew there was difference somehow, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was. So I looked it up on dictionary.com:
en⋅vy
–noun
1. a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
OUCH!
As opposed to jealousy:
jeal⋅ous⋅y
–noun,
1. jealous resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself.
So envy is wanting what someone else has, while jealousy is resentment of someone else's success/advantage. For me that really cleared up why it is not sin when God is jealous for us. Because he is the only one who deserves us, and he totally should resent when we give our worship to something else! But that is another blog post entirely.
Back to envy. I was really convicted when I realized that envy is born out of discontentment. If you are truly content, there is no way you can be envious. This was really tough to swallow because if you had asked me if I am content with my life, I would have said, "Yes, definitely!" And I wouldn't have meant to lie, because I really thought I was content.
Being aware of the cause of envy in my life has helped me so much in trying to defeat it. Now when I see someone's perfect house, and my first response is to think, "Oh, I wish my house looked like that. Why can't I have her life?" instead of giving into my desire to envy, I can think about why I love my house and life so much, and how many blessings God has given me. Praying for a spirit of contentedness is how I am learning to fight envy.
One other thought: While envy, or coveting, is definitely a sin, discontent is not always a sin. Discontentment can move us towards all sorts of awesome things God has planned for us. It becomes a problem when, instead of moving us to prayer, thankfulness, and change, we let discontentment make us ungrateful, impatient, and envious.
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