Envy, Strife and Division

For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?1 Corinthians 3:3

The Corinthian church was a congregation very much open to the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, a partying spirit arose among the people and there was much compromise in their midst, especially in the realm of sexual morality. Instead of centering on Christ, the Corinthian believers were a very egocentric lot. Jesus was their Savior but not yet their Lord.

They were more interested to get rather than to give. The apostle Paul wrote to rebuke them for their spiritual immaturity. He highlighted in no uncertain terms: “You are still just babies in the Christian life. You are not following the Lord but your own selfish desires. I cannot talk to you as I would to healthy Christians who are filled with the Spirit” (1 Cor 3:1, TLB). The Corinthian believers had divided themselves into quarreling groups, jealous and suspicious of each other. Paul chided them for “acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord at all” (3:3, TLB).

Do we see that among the body of Christ today? Absolutely. “Church politics” and infighting are widespread in many quarters of the kingdom. Rival ministries are often comparing and competing with each other. The Corinthians were proof of that. Simmering below all the spiritual gifts and revelatory knowledge in the Corinthian church was a whole range of jealousy, friction, resentment, bitterness and hatred for one another.

In Genesis 26, Isaac went to the Valley of Gerar and started digging wells to get drinking water for his family. Contention arose when some Philistines claimed the right to the well. Isaac called that well Esek, which means in Hebrew, “quarrel” (26:20). Not wanting to create strife, Isaac dug another well. But again the Philistines fought him over the second one. He called the second well Sitnah, which means “hatred” (26:21). Why did the Philistines behave in such a bullying way? Because they had previously seen the prosperity of Isaac, and they “envied him” (26:14).

Envy makes you quarrel and fight. Envy fills you with hatred for others. Envy is a work of the carnal flesh (Gal. 5:21). Whenever we allow envy, strife and division in a fellowship, not only do we hurt ourselves, we bring tremendous disrepute to the gospel. Such “church politics” and fleshly maneuvering should never be present among Christians. Isaac refused to stoop down to the level of the envious Philistines. He dug another well.

This time, he called the well Rehoboth, which means “spaciousness.” God had made room for him to be fruitful in the land (Gen. 26:22). When you choose to be a genuine disciple of Jesus and refuse to embrace the envy and strife of the world, God will ensure that you will come to your own realm of fruitfulness.