James, who happens to be a half-brother of
our Lord Jesus, hit the spot when he wrote that jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. His wisdom
is peaceable and loving…not at all part of the sinful nature, as described in
Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
When you follow the desires of your sinful
nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful
pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of
anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties,
and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone
living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians
5:19-21.
Paul goes on to teach more about the Holy
Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of
fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these
things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
Again, instead of the evil and sinful world,
focus on the good, the true, and the lovely. One of my favorite verses is…
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one
final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and
pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and
worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8.
Focus. Fix your thoughts. Let your
ambitions be honorable…not selfish.
Prayer
~ Lord Jesus, guard our hearts from jealously and selfish ambition. May we be
filled with Your wisdom as well as with the kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
patience, gentleness, self-control, peace, patience and love of the Holy Spirit…sharing
that love with those around us.
© 2016 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT)
unless otherwise noted.
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