Living the Dream: A Devotional for Students Through the Life of JosephSample

Day 4 - Joy Stealer

One of the greatest thieves of joy in the life of a Christ-follower can be jealousy. When we harbor the sin of envy in our hearts, it can point us down a path of bitterness. As we continue to explore Joseph's story, we see that his brothers become extremely bitter and resentful of him. Jealousy turns deadly as they scheme up a plan to get rid of him once and for all.

Perhaps envy has led you down a sinful path. Maybe you have let envy cause you to spread lies about a close friend. Maybe it's caused you to become discontent with your own life or play the unhealthy game of comparison through social media. Perhaps it has caused anger within you to build up or irritability to infiltrate your life. Envy never builds healthy relationships. It actually destroys them or, in Joseph's case, leaves them for dead at the bottom of a dried-up well.

We read in the book of Colossians...

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. "-Colossians 3:8-10

This is a reminder that as a Christ follower, we must throw off anything that doesn’t bring health to us or those around us- including envy and jealousy. Instead, God calls us to put on a new self, a better self, one that is renewed day by day as He works in our lives. By humbly allowing God to restore our hearts to the way He intended them to be we will see that our joy is restored. The sinful habits that disrupted our lives and our relationships will be redeemed and God will be put on display in our life for all to see!

Reflect:

What is an area where you have allowed jealousy and envy to take root in your heart?

Spend some time today asking God to replace your old self with your new self and restore your joy.