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That Little Thing

by Damilola Oguntunde

Good morning DPR, how was your week? I hope it was as productive as we believed it to be? We have been emphasising on Diligence in our past two posts… I think it’s something we need to hear at a time such as this. Our generation must get it right in this area. It’s like God is stirring in me that passion for industry among us at this point in time, and we must wake up to the call. Not to worry, today’s post isn’t about laziness, but let me just tie it all up here… Like I said in the last post about how God cannot use some people to accomplish big things due to their lazy attitude. This verse of scripture further burtresses it…

Proverbs 10: 26 (Easy English) Do not send a lazy person with a message. He will be like bad wine to your teeth, or like smoke to your eyes.

It’s really distasteful to be at the mercy of a lazy person. Now imagine if God had an errand to send someone on earth, He definitely knows better than sending a lazy guy to get the job done. He will send someone who’s got a heart that is committed to the work. Thank God for the tireless nature of the Apostle Paul, he started the latest, but went the farthest. He was so full of zeal, passion and commitment for the ministry, that it did not matter if he lived or died, as long as it was on the gospel’s account, Phil 1:21. God has got big errands to send us in our generation, and He’s not looking for people who will seize His Grace as an excuse for lasciviousness, but God seeks those who are empowered by Grace but even all the more labour abundantly with the Grace. There is a lot of work to be done, and like Jesus said; the harvest is plenty, but the labourers are few… I also believe that the few labourers can do a lot if they are quality labourers. So that ends the Diligence sub series. Hope it helped someone? It helped me I must say…

So we continue the Character Series today by talking about a very huge syndrome in our society and the world at large. It’s one tiny little thing that can cause the most damaging effects in any man’s life. It’s a four letter word with a four square impact if given enough room to breed. It’s the word “envy”. You know, while meditating on today’s post, I realised envy was at the root of every human problem in the world today, starting with lucipher… I’ll help you out. Before the beginning, the devil envied God and wanted to be like God, so God sent him out of heaven… NO, “cast him out” is a better way to put it. Then God created Man, and then the devil envied what man had and wanted it so bad, but all he could do again was to get man to envy God by making it look like man would be like God, (whom he already was in His image and likeness), if he ate the fruit God told him expressly not to eat. So man fell, and then Cain envied Abel and committed the first murder recorded in the Bible, and so it continues. It’s devastating what that thing called envy can cause in anyone’s life. Wherever there is envy, there will be strife and God CANNOT work is such an environment, even if He wanted to, He COULDN’T do so. It totally negates the Laws of Love which epitomizes God. This world will be a whole lot safer and better if people could just eliminate envy from the equation of social interactions.

James 3:16(KJV) For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

God didn’t say there will be some evil work, but every evil work gains entrance into a man’s life and space through the password of envy. Evil works like sicknesses, accidents, failures, dissapointments, even death. Envy is not something believers should joke with at all. Yeah, I know sometimes it seems very involuntary… It’s like a natural thing to feel that sting of envy when something good happens to someone else and not you, or when you feel good about something bad happening to someone else. My dear, it’s not natural! That’s the first step to overcoming envy, you must never see it as normal. Whatever you see as normal will perpetuate in your life. It is from hell, the Bible just told us it causes confusion and every evil work, so It can’t possibly be normal, it is absolutely abnormal and devilish. For a believer, whatever is not from God is abnormal, no matter how popular it is. Envy is the ploy of the enemy to keep you busy with what others have and neglect your own God given gifts, so you can sacrifice your destiny at the mercy of envious indulgence, while neglecting the most adorable person in the world; “YOURSELF”. Trust me, your destiny is worth more than that momentary carnal indulgence. Envy is like a malignant social cancer cell that replicates itself rapidly and thereby causing damage.

Prov 14: 30(Easy English) A mind that does not have trouble causes the body to be well. But when someone thinks bad thoughts about other people, he becomes sick.

KJV says, envy causes rottenness of the bones. Imagine how many people are in the hospital spending millions treating a sickness that was never caused by any biotic infection but envy. Remember the harlots that came to king Solomon to judge between them in 1 Kings 3? The one with the dead child was so full of envy that she couldn’t stand the sight of her partner’s child being alive. It clouded her better judgment and she did not realize how her envious outrage would give her away to the wise King Solomon. I see that story as a metaphorical representation of what happens between man and God. God will NEVER rule in favour of the envious. What you do in such a situation is to begin to thank God for your partner and her baby, while believing God for yours to either be raised from the dead or for you to get pregnant again. That’s exactly what Abraham did, he believed God would raise his dead and impotent body back to life so he would produce a child. He even went further to pray for Abimelech and his haram of wives to be more fruitful… this was a man that was barren, praying for an already fruitful household who just wanted more children. It is interesting to note that he prayed for them in Gen 20, and by Gen 21 verse 1, God visited Abraham and his wife with their own child. Envy will rob you of your legitimate miracle, what if Abraham had refused to pray for Abimelech and his household while he was still barren, probably due to envy? Maybe he would have remained barren. Envy simply is a lack of trust for God and His wisdom. Envy is short sightedness, because you allow what you see in others’ lives affect your disposition to them. Don’t wish people bad because they have something you don’t have, or feel good about their adversity. Thank God for them instead if something good happens to them, and pray for them if something bad happens, even if they are bad people. Some Christians actually envy the “rich sinners” a whole lot and in essence reminding God that He is not faithful to them the “committed saints”. Hear what God told David…

Psalms 24: 17-19 (KJV) 17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: 18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. 19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;

You have no reason to be envious at anyone, whether a wicked person or a righteous person, that is if you really know your own worth before God. Envy does more harm to the carrier than the targeted. To build a solid character of virtues that are filled with Grace, we must eliminate this ravaging tendency. We have been empowered by the Holy Ghost to stay above envy, unbelievers might not be able to help themselves, but we sure can. We can love all men genuinely and wish them the best from God. I’m just about scratching the surface of today’s post, but my space is up already. So we will continue with this on Monday, where we will be dealing with how to really deal with envy in our lives. It’s always a blessing and a rare privilege to be given some minutes worth of your attention every week. I really appreciate your readership, God bless your heart. Please do well to share with your friends as well. Have a great weekend.

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3 comments

Ariyo Ayobami August 14, 2015 - 9:10 am

God bless you sir…

Reply
Femi Tiamiyu August 15, 2015 - 8:57 am

Awesome delivery Sir! I was richly blessed. Precise words shedding light to the contemplations I had on this subject matter very recently. Our life itself is a CAPITAL PROJECT & INCORPORATION with many functional departments & faculties. Really, no split seconds should be accounted for envy!

Thank you Sir! Stay #refreshed Sir!

@FemiTIAMIYU

Reply
Onyemaobi Gift August 16, 2015 - 9:43 pm

Thank you Sir, this is great

Reply

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