If You Have Bitter Jealousy

[Christsfreeservant]

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:13-18 NASB1995)​

What does it look like if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart? What kinds of attitudes and behaviors might that produce within you? Well, if you are bitter, you are angry and you are disappointed that life didn’t go the way you wanted it to go, or that someone didn’t meet up to what you expected that he/she would be for you. And so you are resentful and provoked, perhaps to the point of getting even, in your way of thinking.

And if you have bitter jealousy of someone else, this being the person you are bitter against, for he/she did not measure up to your expectations, then you see this other person as your competition, your rival, your enemy, your opposition, and/or as someone with whom you must compete or tear down or attempt to destroy, because you want that person at your level. And so you may plot all sorts of evil against this person to “pay him/her back.”

And if you have selfish ambition, you are thinking only of yourself and what’s in it for you, and what you can gain from it, without regard and without thought to how your actions are impacting other people. You want what you want regardless of who gets stepped on and taken advantage of and abused and misused in the process. For your own selfish drive and determination disregards the impact of your behaviors so that you can engage in your selfish and sinful pleasures. This happens a lot with sexual addiction.

And those who are living like this usually do this “in the dark,” where no one else can see what they are doing, or at least not in the presence of any witnesses. So there is no proof of what they are actually doing “in the dark,” and so typically they will lie about what they are up to, sometimes even in advance of what evil they are plotting. And sometimes they will make themselves out to be the “victims” when they are literally the perpetrators, in order to get the sympathies of others at the expense of their “targets.”

And some people are bitter against God because he didn’t do things their way, and because life didn’t turn out for them the way they had hoped. And so they rebel against God, and they go their own way, and they do their own thing, and they live for selfish and sinful pleasures without regard for God or for his commands or for his will and purpose for their lives. And this might include treating some people this way, too, out of bitterness and resentment against God, and them, if those people are followers of Jesus Christ, in truth.

But, for us who believe in Jesus Christ, in truth, and in righteousness, we are to have pure hearts and minds which are committed to serving our Lord in walks of obedience and in surrender to his will. Our behavior is to line up with God’s commandments so that sin is no longer our practice. But holy living, which is pleasing to God, is what we practice, in the power of God. For this is right in the eyes of the Lord, and is pleasing to him. But if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

Therefore, if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine biblical faith, as taught IN CONTEXT, we should be living for the Lord and not for self. This is not saying we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2), but that sin must not be our practice, and obedience to God in holy living is now to be what we practice, by the grace of God, in the power of God. And if we are tempted to sin, we are to resist Satan and flee that temptation and draw near to God in walks of obedience to his commands. And we must now live for God and not for self!

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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If You Have Bitter Jealousy
An Original Work / May 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love