Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: ENVY (jealousy of another’s advantage) (02/12/15)
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TITLE: Gabby's Gazette | Previous Challenge Entry
By Brenda Rice
02/19/15 -
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Edgar: “It seems to me that jealousy has been around since the beginning of time. Satan was envious of God and planned a mutiny in heaven. After his expulsion, he deceived Eve by telling her she would be like God if she would eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. It seems likely that Satan brought that sin with him to planet earth, along with a boatload of other sins.”
Marsha: “As I’ve studied the Old Testament, I recall finding story after story about envy or jealousy. Sarah became jealous of Hagar and her son Ishmael, even though, she was the one who encouraged Abraham to sleep with Hagar. Obviously, more than sleeping went on. I, for one, am thankful the days of concubines are over.”
Martin: “Issac favored his son Esau. Jacob, Isaac’s other son became envious enough to conspire with his mother to steal Esau’s birthright. Cain, Adam and Eve’s son killed his brother Abel, because God accepted Abel’s offering and envy turned to rage. King Saul tried to kill David out of envy. Then, King David desired another man’s wife so he had the man killed. I mean, this is a sin to be abhorred. We certainly should not take envy lightly.”
Commentary: On and on through the scriptures we find the wakes of destruction left by tsunamis caused by envy or jealousy. In the New Testament, King Herod had hundreds possibly thousands of boy children killed, because he heard about a new king. What a tragic story from God’s Word.
Unfortunately, envy has survived the centuries between Bible times and the present. Wishing it ain’t so, won’t help at all.
Susan: “For many years I worked in various capacities in church administration as a volunteer and as paid staff. I can tell you from experience, the disappointment I felt when someone acted out toward me in envy was equally as painful when I was a volunteer, as it was when I was paid staff. Volunteers are vital in church operations. When volunteers are wounded by jealousy they often stop serving. When that happens, the ministries of the church have difficulty providing the services needed.”
Commentary: Christians can and do inflict severe wounds on each other for no other reasons than they are jealous of someone’s position, or just their status in life. We should remind ourselves that Jesus is the great equalizer. He levels the playing field for everyone. There are no big I’s or little u’s in God’s kingdom. Why then, do we focus on what possessions others have? Why is their home, their cars, their clothing, their recreational vehicles or their choice of schools fodder to feed the green-eyed monster inside of us?
Carrie: “Since I’ve lived some number of decades now, I feel confident I can speak to that question. We make the choice to be envious or jealous or covetous. Like Eve, like Lucifer, like King David, we decide to allow this sin into our lives.
“I understand from my grandchildren that you can google (some action preformed on a computer) and find out how many times envy is mentioned in the Bible. My suggestion would be to just read it for your-own-self.
“It occurs to me that perhaps some, if not all our problems would benefit from knowing first-hand what the Bible says about them. Now, I know preachers mean well and mostly, they expound the truths of God’s Word. However, if we the pew sitters have no knowledge of what the Bible says we can be easily led astray. Depending on others, even preachers, to know the Bible for us is like hitching your wagon up to pull your mule. I reckon that isn’t the best example for this day and time.”
Commentary: As you can see there is continuity to all the remarks. Sin has invaded our world and no one is beyond its reach. Jesus is the only way. His teachings are the only teachings that can guide and protect us from a life filled with envy and strife.
That’s it for this issue. Stay in the Word.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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Amen...stay in His word.
God bless~
The only red ink I might offer would have been to make it actually look like something in the paper. Put a headline in bold print and the date and the name of the paper up in the header. Instead of just using the person's name, write it out like it would be in the paper. For example, John Smith said, ... Others had similar opinions such as Lucy Los who had this to say on the topic :
That's not perfect by any means, but I hope it helps show what I mean.
I do think you did a great job with it. I always especially enjoy out-of-the-box stories and you definitely wrote a story different from any other that I read. I also liked your examples from the Bible. You did a great job of expressing your message without coming off as preachy. Did I mention I love your humor? I'm still smiling.
God BLess~