{"id":275,"date":"2019-09-30T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/?p=275"},"modified":"2019-09-30T13:00:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T13:00:14","slug":"resentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/2019\/09\/30\/resentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Resentment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I remember when I was a child in grade school, not having\ngrown up in or been involved with any church, I heard that \u201cGod is\neverywhere all the time<\/strong>.\u201d  This was\nsuch a strange concept to me, that I can still remember; on one sunny day, some\ngirl told that to me on the playground at school.  Today, I still ponder the concept of God\nbeing infinite in nature. I will return to this idea later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, I\u2019d like to start off with the 10 Commandments \u2013\nExodus 20:1-17. If you have a minute now, you should read the whole thing. But\nI am going to focus on v.17:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You shall not covet your\nneighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant\nor his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your\nneighbor.” (Exodus 20:17)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice that the command does not say: \u201cYou shall not covet\nyour neighbor because of the love he has for God and people, nor shall you\ncovet the love he receives from them.\u201d Obviously, that is not part of the\nCommandments \u2013 God did not write that. But, is it ok to covet someone else\u2019s\nlove? Covet is intrinsically a bad word \u2013 it requires some level of\nresentment<\/strong> toward the person who has the thing being coveted. I think it is\naccurate and correct that often people write the 10th<\/sup> Commandment as\nsimply \u201cDo not Covet.\u201d Covet contains resent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we can all agree resentment is bad. We are regularly\nencouraged and instructed in scripture to lift each other up. How can we do\nthat when we see that our neighbor has something that we want or feel that we\nneed \u2013 even if that something is good and righteous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say I notice someone in my life whom is greatly\nblessed. This person is clearly well loved by God and others around them and\nthey are \u201creally good\u201d at loving God and others around them. When I notice that\nsomeone is exhibiting human traits that I feel are better than mine, I have\ntwo responsibilities<\/strong>. The first is to not covet (it is a Commandment,\nright?) and the second is to lift that person up; in a sense, the opposite of\nresentment\u2026 Here are a few of the many scriptures that say this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore encourage one another\nand build up one another, just as you also are doing. (1Thes 5:11)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So then we pursue the things\nwhich make for peace and the building up of one another. (Rom 14:19)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my favorite:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and let us consider how to\nstimulate one another to love and good deeds, (Heb 10:24)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By communicating to them that I noticed the good thing they\ndo and how great it is, I empower them and encourage them and to some extent\nvalidate them<\/strong>.  This is one way to\nshow love. It is also not an easy thing to do, as it takes humility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are my two responsibilities, \u201cdon\u2019t covet, instead\nencourage.\u201d But there is also a third thing that I will definitely want to\ndo<\/strong> for my own benefit. Can you guess what that third thing is? Here is a hint:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJabez was more honorable than\nhis brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him\nwith pain.” Now Jabez called on the God of Israel<\/strong>, saying, “Oh\nthat You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might\nbe with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!”\nAnd God granted him what he requested.\u201d (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been talking about coveting here and I have emphasized that coveting anything is a bad idea. Do you agree? But, let\u2019s go back to my parody of Exodus 20:17. \u201cYou shall not covet anyone’s house; you shall not covet anyone’s wife (or husband,) you shall not covet their male or female servant, you shall not covet the love that they have for their neighbor or the love that they receive from their neighbor or anything that belongs to anyone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, we should not covet someone\u2019s love. Remember, to covet\nis to resent the person, which is bad. Desiring<\/em> the love you see in\nsomeone else is not bad, but if it leads to resentment, then it is a sin. Here\u2019s\nsome good news. For those who know about it, love has a unique\ncharacteristic that makes it covet-proof<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Adversary did not know about this characteristic, or he forgot about it, or most likely, he just didn\u2019t care, when he accused Job.\u00a0 It sounds to me like Satan coveted Job\u2019s status of being blameless<\/strong> in the eyes of God. In Job 1:9-11, he said to God: Of course Job is blameless\u2026 you bless Him so much, why wouldn\u2019t he be? “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” That is what resentment looks and sounds like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, God\u2019s perfect and infinite patience kind of\nirritates me! If I were God, when Satan wagged his finger in my face like that,\nI would have chained him up and thrown him into the pit right then and there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Adversary did not know about this characteristic, or he forgot about it, or most likely, he just didn\u2019t care, when he accused Job.\u00a0 It sounds to me like Satan coveted Job\u2019s statusof being blameless<\/strong> in the eyes of God. In Job 1:9-11, he said to God: Of course Job is blameless\u2026 you bless Him so much, why wouldn\u2019t he be? “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.<\/a>” That is what resentment looks and sounds like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good thing I am not God. \nHis plan is perfect<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord is not slow about His\npromise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any\nto perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, it isn\u2019t only love that has this characteristic. I\u2019ll venture that all the fruits of the spirit have this covet-proof aspect<\/strong>. The characteristic I am getting at here is that these things, especially love, all have God as their source and therefore are an infinite resource.\u00a0 There can never be a shortage<\/strong>.\u00a0 Those things are always available. They are always abundantly available to us regardless of what our neighbor has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an analogy\u2026 \nYou\u2019re driving in your car and all of a sudden, the engine sputters and\ndies and your car coasts to a stop.  You\nrealize that your gas tank is\nempty! Ah-Ha. What is the problem? Is there a shortage of gas? Well, in your\ntank, yes!  But how many gas stations did\nyou pass recently?  The real problem is that\nyou didn\u2019t stop to buy gas!  And, as the\nother cars drive by you, do you covet the gas in their tanks? Maybe you covet\nthe drivers\u2019 forethought and preparedness\u2026 Remember Jabez and his prayer? The\nsolution is simple<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the confidence which we\nhave before God, that, if we ask anything according to His will<\/strong>, He\nhears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we\nhave the requests which we have asked from Him. (1 John 5:14-15)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, all you need to do is ask and you will receive. The\nKingdom of Heaven is a rare pearl, a hidden treasure, and getting there is like\na camel passing thorough an eye of a needle. Narrow is the gate, and few are\nchosen.  This sounds like quite the challenge.\nBut never forget this: Love is an infinite resource that flows from God,\navailable to all<\/strong>.  He does love us\nand wants us to love one another. That is how we show our love for Him, by\nkeeping His commandments and by loving each other \u2013 our brethren, our\nneighbors, and our enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThis is good and acceptable in the sight of\nGod our Savior, who desires all men to be saved<\/strong> and to come to the\nknowledge of the truth.\u201d (1 Timothy 2:3-4)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set your mind on the things\nabove, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2)        <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace to you and glory to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Nate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.paraklesis.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember when I was a child in grade school, not having grown up in or been involved with any church, I heard that \u201cGod is everywhere all the time.\u201d  This was such a strange concept to me, that I can still remember; on one sunny day, some girl told that to me on the … Continue reading “Resentment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}