GUARD AGAINST ENVY AND JEALOUSY

'Let us have...no envy of one another.' Galatians 5:26 RSV

Paul cautioned the early church about envy, and it is still a problem. Your co-worker gets a raise, a friend's child wins a scholarship, a neighbour takes a dream holiday. Do you rejoice with them, or force a tight smile? 

We're human; an occasional flicker of envy is normal. But beware of harbouring a chronic sense of being short-changed. Tacitus said, 'When men are full of envy, they disparage everything... good or bad.' When somebody else prospers, before you ask, 'Why not me?' ask yourself if you would be responding the same way if some tragedy had befallen them. Jealousy is like a moth; it nibbles away at clothes until they're ruined, except envy destroys irreplaceable things like relationships and families. One author reminds us: 'When we're...in the valley, it is human to envy those...(on) the mountaintops. It is easy to forget (they) didn't fall there - they climbed there. Behind the success story is always a courageous decision and a gallant action...if we want to reach them...we have to...climb. Inspiration from someone else may get us started, but the success is in the climbing.' Imagine a runner striding out; they're fast, focused, and ahead of the pack. Then they start looking at the competition. Before long, they stumble, lose momentum, and drop out. That's what happens when you let jealousy distract you from completing the course God mapped out for you. 

Paul writes, 'You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?' (Galatians 5:7 NIV). Keep your eye on the prize, and don't get distracted by what others have. That's none of your business.

GROWING THROUGH CRITICISM

'If you accept correction, you will be honored.' Proverbs 13:18 NLT

Solomon said, 'If you accept correction, you will be honoured.' Charlie Shedd gives us ten ways to grow through criticism:

1) Criticism is often a compliment. The barbs in daily life strike only those who raise their heads above ground level. Jesus said, 'Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down...it means...that the truth is too close for comfort and that person is uncomfortable' (Luke 6:22 MSG)

2) Accept that you have faults which are open to censure. Stay humble, and criticism won't rattle you.

3) 'The words of the godly save lives' (Proverbs 12:6 NLT). Invite criticism from friends; then when it comes from your enemies, you will be broken in.

4) Let criticism make you better. When you burn with anger, you destroy your passport to improvement. 'When you do right and suffer for it...take it patiently' (1 Peter 2:20 RSV).

5) Some criticism should be ignored, especially if it stems from false motives. Never give unhappy people the key to your happiness.

6) Keep it in perspective. Not everybody has heard. Most people don't care. One bad word doesn't cancel the good in you.

7) Let criticism make you kinder. Remind yourself that you have criticised others too. Is this a boomerang that started in your own heart?

8) Pray for your critics. It will improve them and neutralise your bitterness. Hate destroys your health and steals your happiness.

9) Check with the Master Critic. What does God say? How do things look, deep in your soul?

10) When you have checked to make sure you're right, move ahead. 

In quiet confidence, finish what you started, because God's promises are to those who endure (see Hebrews 6:12).

DON'T BE AFRAID OF GETTING OLD

'My chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.' Isaiah 65:22 NIV

We live in a fickle society where a few wrinkles can devastate your self-worth. But you don't have to be a victim of that value system. 'As the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands' (v22 NIV). Someone said, 'Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter! So:

1) Build a strong relationship with God. Spend time talking with Him and reading His word. 'Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying' (Proverbs 3:1-2 NLT).

2) Come to grips with the reality of ageing. Face it: you have been aging since you were conceived. In fact, on the day of your birth, you were already nine months old. Therefore, fretting about getting older is as fruitless as worrying about the sun going down each day. Instead of worrying about how long your life will be, make the most of every day. Each morning, look in the mirror and announce, 'This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it' (see Psalm 118:24).

3) Always have a goal. It doesn't have to be something big in the eyes of the world, just something to look forward to doing with your hands and your mind. 

Eleanor Roosevelt said, 'I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.' Read, grow, contribute, stay involved, live until your last breath!

THE GIFT OF CONFESSION

'Walk in love as Christ also has loved us.' Ephesians 5:2 NKJV

Spiritual healing takes place when you're able to confess your problems to someone mature enough to handle it and committed enough to not give up on you. What does it mean to 'walk in love'?

a) To be confident of God's unfailing love towards you.

b) To show His love to others.

c) To be able to accept their love in return. Only then can you become spiritually whole. You can only be loved to the extent that you're known. When you keep part of your life a secret, others may tell you they love you, but deep down you think, 'If you knew the whole truth about me, you wouldn't love me.' So you can't receive and be strengthened by their love. Sin isolates us, and sin and isolation will make us sick in our soul and even our body. Confession and then prayer, connectedness to each other and to God, usher in the Spirit and promote healing. To be fully known and fully loved is the most healing gift we can give to each other. The Bible says, 'Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed' (James 5:16 NASB).

We're all forgiven, recovering sinners, and no one can be secure in a relationship if they're loved only because they're intelligent, strong, or pretty, or successful. One Bible teacher says: 'When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.'

YOU ARE UNDER GOD'S PROTECTION

'He...shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' Psalm 91:1 NKJV

What is 'the shadow of the Almighty'? In the wilderness where Israel wandered for forty years, temperatures could get up to 120 or 130 degrees. There was no shade except what was provided by the tents in which the people lived. So they understood this powerful metaphor, 'under the shadow of the Almighty'.

If you were lost in the desert, the children of Israel were required by the law of hospitality to satisfy your need for food, water, protection from an enemy, and shade from the blistering sun. It worked like this: first you had to find out the chief shepherd's name. Then you would take hold of the cord on his tent and cry out for help. When you did that, the law of hospitality required him to take you into the safety of his tent. Indeed, that same law said he had to protect you with his very life. Are you getting the idea? God's name, EI Shaddai, describes two wonderful aspects of His character. 'EI' speaks of His power and strength. 'Shaddai literally means 'strong-breasted-one', which refers to the gentleness of a nursing mother. Some days you have to go to Him and let Him hold you in His arms and comfort you. 

The poet wrote, 'Let me no more my comfort draw, from my frail grasp on Thee; in this alone rejoice with awe - Thy mighty grasp of me.' When things get too 'hot' for you, run to 'the shadow of the Almighty'.

BLIND CHANCE Vs GOD'S COMMAND

'Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous.' Psalm 139:14 NLT

Could life as we know it plant, animal, and human life have happened spontaneously by chance? Could our amazing solar system be the result of an accident? The more advanced science becomes, the more evidence there is for a Master Designer. Researchers continue to uncover the divine order in each tiny human cell.

American biochemist Bruce Albert, former president of the National Academy of Science, writes, 'We have always underestimated cells; undoubtedly we still do...Cells are the basic unit of life...indeed the entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of different protein machines in defined positions.' The psalmist David wasn't a scientist, yet he recognised that each of us is a complex product of God's amazing hands! 'You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb...You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion...woven together in the dark of the womb...How precious are your thoughts about me...They cannot be numbered!... And when I wake up, you are still with me! (vv. 13, 15, 17-18 NLT). The average human heart beats 115,000 times a day. Our blood travels 12,000 miles every day (about twenty times the length of the UK from northern Scotland to southern England). Adults take an average of 18,000 to 30,000 breaths a day, and for the most part, we do all these functions without realizing it. Amazing! 

Today, stop and take a few minutes to acknowledge and thank your Creator for the amazing things He did with that first clump of dirt.

NEVER STOP LEARNING

'You shall love the Lord your God with all your...mind.' Mark 12:39 NKJV

God created us with the capacity to keep learning until the day we die, something we shouldn't take for granted. ' A wise man will hear, and will increase learning...'(Proverbs 1:5).

The average brain weighs about three pounds, yet neurologists estimate that we can learn something new every second, every minute, every hour, every day for the next three hundred million years. Awesome, right? But it's more than that. It's a stewardship matter. Jesus said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength .' It's impossible to determine the percentage of our minds we use, but all of us have untapped potential. Your imagination is capable of considerably more than you can dream. Yet somewhere along the way, most of us stop living out of imagination and start living out of memory. We stop designing the future and start copying the past. And that is the day we cease living and begin dying. Why? Because we stop educating ourselves. Loving God with all your mind requires maximising your mind by learning as much as possible about as much as possible. The true litmus test of spiritual maturity isn't the quantity you know. It's knowing the quantity you know. It's knowing the quantity you don't know. 

It's reconciling yourself with the reality that God is not an object of comprehensive knowledge as much as He is a source of wonder. And that sacred sense of wonder ignites a holy curiosity to keep learning more about the Creator and His creation.