Wisdom from Proverbs

This is a verse that really stick out to me from my devotions today....thought I'd share it.

"A sound heart is life to the body,
But envy is rottenness to the bones." Prov. 14:30

How true this is. I'm sure we all have, at one time, felt envious/bitter of another person. Thick back to that time and try to remember your mental state. How did you feel, and what did you think when you thought about that person? Chances are what you thought about them isn't something you want to remember, or share, right now. In addition to thinking bad thoughts, you also probably didn't enjoy being around them or associating with them. The list goes on.

If we, especially Christians, could only learn to put asside our bitterness and envy and learn to be content with what we have and learn to find our identity in Christ, imagine what the consequences would be. The greatest, and most advantageous, consequence to this, I believe would be, is that we would have open and loving friendships with each other, not bogged down with the sourness, or "rottenness," that is inevitably brought about by bitterness and envy. Sadly, many people ignore this fact choosing to not put asside their envy feelings, allowing themselves to wallow in their bittereness. Satan, the father of discontent, is only to happy and ready to encourage this......especially between Christians. Christians need to set the example by not showing envy and bitterness towards each other, displaying Christian love and friendship instead.

Think back once again to a time when you felt envious of someone else, does your conflict with them seem as important now as it did then? Probably not, which only goes to show that envious feelings are ultimately useless and trivial in the great scheme of things. In closing I would like to challenge us, myself included, to never allow envy or bitterness to get the best us and cause us to break fellowship amoungst ourselves.