So, a recap from our last week fellowship, we learnt what are the definitions of sins and we also learnt the origin of Seven Deadly Sins and what are their roles in our everyday life. We drilled down specifically on Pride and Wrath, learning to be aware of them and to be able to draw the line from them to Self-Confident and Anger. Few bible passages what might help us to be more aware of how deadly these sins are and how God despise them. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverb 16:18) “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27) My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires (James 1:19-20) This week we’re continuing our study on Lust and Envy. Let’s talk briefly about these 2 deadly sins. Lust – We human (especially man) seems to have issue around our self-control regarding this one. We see this clearly why this is a sin in God’s eyes and we must guard ourselves from falling to this sin at all cost. In the Ten Commandments, God commanded, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14), Jesus in Matthew emphasizes this even more by saying “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Clearly this is a sin! And yet this is something that we might face everyday, even Job said this on Job 31:1 - I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Envy – Let’s start by the definition of Envy, Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines it as “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. I highlighted the word that I think is important here, we feel painful and resentful by other’s advantage, as the old-saying says – The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. And then we desire to have the same advantage. There’s a passage in the bible clearly saying envy is not according to God’s will, (James 3:16) For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice So, is there such thing as “healthy” envy? Can we say that envy is simply a way for us to push ourselves to be better? Hope by now, you’re interested to know more and decide to join our discussion on this. Please join our discussion this Friday, July 20th at 7 pm on the next series of 7 Deadly Sins, Lust and Envy.
