Do Not Be Envious, We Belong to God – (Proverbs 24:1-2)
Daily Proverbs
Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them; For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of troublemaking.
Daily Bible Study
If we were to sum up this passage we would say, "do not envy what is selected for destruction, unless you desire destruction as well." Yet we know sometimes even Christians can become envious of those who do not know Christ. We tend to look not at all of them, but we look just at those who are better off than ourselves. They seem to be doing very well in the world. They have success and worldly things we may desire. However, we must not become enamored with such things. We are in the world, but we are not part of the world. This means we belong to God, not Satan. Neither do we set our sights on this world and a system controlled by the one whom the Apostle Paul calls the "prince of the power of the air," who is Satan. When we were part of this world we thought about worldly things and how to get more for ourselves.
We thought about more money, more pleasure, more success and more stuff. However, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and God through the Holy Spirit has given us a new heart and a new spirit. Moreover, not only a new heart, but the source from which we draw our strength is no longer the world, but God. Before salvation, we filled our spirit with the thoughts for the things of the world. Now, because of our salvation, we have been given a new, better and deeper source from which to fill our spirit and that source is Christ and His word! Therefore, we set our sights on higher things, on the things of God. Our calling is to share the message of Christ to those who are lost and suffering in this world, why? Because we belong to God, our lives are His. Our joy is to do His service, following His will and to do the things God has called us to do. And to do them in the fashion which He directs us through His Holy Spirit.