ROOTED RENEGADE

I think at some point in each of our lives we have been jealous or envious of someone for some reason. You see it a lot with children. Whether they want the toy their friend has or they want to look like them, jealousy and envy creeps in unaware.

Think about someone who wants their physique to look like their favorite actor/actress. They obsess over their weight and appearance to the point that nothing outside of that matters anymore. They are consumed with self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, often resulting in self-harm and/or unhealthy patterns. 

What about the person who competes with their neighbor over their yard, car, etc.? Or the person at work who tries to do everything you do because they are insecure and you are confident?

We can come up with many scenarios where we see jealousy and envy playing an ugly game. And I am sure if we think long enough, we can also see where we have engaged in it as well.

Coming into agreement with these two giants comes from a place of insecurity and lack of contentment.

When we are insecure, we don’t really know who we are in Christ Jesus. We don’t know our identity in Him so we try to find it in others and worldly possessions. There is a mindset of never enough or never being good enough which leads to dangerous behaviors. 

Instead of believing that God made us in His likeness and image, we believe that He made some mistakes when He made us. Our hair, skin, weight, height, physique, etc. So we judge ourselves against how He made others.

Essentially we tell Him that He royally screwed up with us and that since He did, we have to fix it. So we compare ourselves against what others have, how they look, etc. Then we curse what they have that we don’t by saying negative things about them to make ourselves feel a little better. And this comes out towards anyone who has what we don’t.

We also turn that cursing inward. When we feel like God made junk, we don’t honor Him. Instead we dishonor what He made by speaking down to ourselves and calling ourselves names.

And the messaging we receive from the world doesn’t make it easier. Our news feeds are littered with weight loss drugs and methods, the next best work outs, the best hair products, the best clothes, the best this and that. The list is exhausting and so are the reels. Which makes it even harder to hear the truth from the Lord.

Many of us have heard Psalm 139:14, that says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” But how many of us actually believe it?

To believe this Psalm is true, we must first believe that we are made in God’s image. That we bear His thumbprint. That He made us as we are in complete love and adoration.

That takes work and that work is internal. It truly takes getting to the root of why we believe we are not fearfully and wonderfully made and then allowing Holy Spirit to remove the root. 

A flower will bloom in adversity, as long as its roots are in the right soil. 

We need our roots to be firmly planted in the soil that the Lord has tended and cultivated. That comes from knowing who God is and His heart towards us. If we continue to look outwardly towards the world, then we will continually be disappointed. We will continually search for things to fill our souls that have no lasting impact and damage our root system. Jealousy and envy cause root rot. And it is a horrible thing to experience. 

When plants roots rot, they give off this horrible smell and their roots become moldy and sometimes they turn pink. It isn’t enough to pull the plant out of the soil and replant it. You have to completely discard the plant and the soil it was in. Then you have to clean the pot so you don’t put anything else in it that may get contaminated by remnants left behind.

When we allow God to deal with our root rot caused by jealousy and envy, He removes the contamination, and cleanses the area where the removal took place. He doesn’t just pull the root and leave us to clean and fill the hole ourselves.

King David asked God to create in him a clean heart (see Psalm 51:10) which is what we need. A clean heart that doesn’t long after that which belongs to another, but longs for what the Lord has specifically for us. A heart that seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven and turns away from the lust of the world.

A heart that believes God loves us and made us perfectly in His image. A heart that yearns for His courts and His presence over what others have.

I will say this, if you want a clean heart, and that is your true desire, the Lord will give you one. You should know that it won’t be an easy process to go through. There will be days you want to give up in the middle of the cleansing, but keep going.

I can tell you that it is worth it. Because when the Lord gets a hold of your heart, you will burn for nothing else once He is done purifying it, but Him.

I pray you allow the cleansing to take place.

Faythe