All Is Vanity...

As I have told you on other occasions, I love to sing; I feel as though my soul overflows through my lips when I praise, but at times I have called myself to account because I have feared that I was not doing it for God, but rather for my own gratification.

In fact, I have not sung in the congregation for a long time, and for a while I blamed this on other people who did sing, even saying that they would not let me sing because I overshadowed them. How foolish of me! If it had been God’s purpose for me to sing, I surely would have been in the praise group. But I had no insight into what was happening to me; I even refused to give this feeling a name. I thank God that today I can do so, because God dealt with me, and the demons that tormented me revealed their names: “jealousy” and “envy.” When one recognizes this and knows that it is not pleasing to God’s heart, one has taken the first step so that God can do His work in us through a process called “transformation.”

There are countless people who spend their lives in the church feeling this way and are not even capable of admitting it to themselves. They live blaming others for being stumbling blocks to them, when what is really happening is that the weeds have infiltrated their hearts. James 3:16 tells us: “For wherever there is envy and rivalry, there is also confusion and every kind of evil deed.”

As long as we are in the flesh—and indeed we are, even though our being strives to walk in the Spirit—we will have to keep checking ourselves so that we do not fall into these states. We know all too well that there are very irritating people around us, just as we are sometimes irritating to others, but it is not about them; it is about us. And it is in prayer that we must ask God for the portion of humility and tolerance, fruit of the Spirit, that belongs to us as heirs of His incomparable grace. In Galatians 5:26 the Word tells us: “Let us not allow vanity to lead us to irritate and envy one another.”

We are still very far from perfection, but if we confront ourselves every time we harbor an unhealthy feeling toward a brother, we will realize that we have stepped outside the spiritual realm and have one foot in the flesh. Then all we need are our knees and our hearts to enter again and take our rightful place as children of God.

Let us not allow ourselves to be tempted: “Be sober and vigilant; for your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Let us not be easy prey; may that “lion” have to lose its hide trying.