Anger, Jealousy, and Pride in Proverbs, Bible

Summary

Anger, jealousy, and pride are destructive sins that Proverbs warns against. Uncontrolled anger leads to foolish decisions, damaged relationships, and personal harm. Jealousy drains peace and health, consuming a person like cancer. Pride exalts the self, rejects guidance, creates conflict, and leads to disgrace and downfall. These attitudes come from the sinful nature and have no place in the new life Christ gives. Through the Holy Spirit, believers can overcome them and live for Jesus.

Anger, Jealousy, and Pride in Proverbs, Bible

Anger, jealousy, and pride in Proverbs, in the Bible, portray the tornado-like destructiveness of different elements of the sinful nature that are not to control the way we live as Christians (Romans 6:12). Let’s explore why.

Uncontrolled Anger Hurts Us and Others

Uncontrolled anger hurts us and others. We have all done foolish things because we were mad. We have broken both things and relationships.  

Getting angry lowers our IQ instantly. Our good judgment evaporates after we crash head-on into a semitrailer of someone’s offense against us. Unthinkingly, we start fights, commit all kinds of sin, and do things we later regret (Proverbs 15:18, Proverbs 29:22).

“Short-tempered people do foolish things, and schemers are hated” (Proverbs 14:17 NLT). “People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness” (Proverbs 14:29 NLT). “Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back” (Proverbs 29:11 NLT).

The shorter our anger fuse, the more foolish decisions and actions we add to our resume. Our anger directs a wrecking ball at others, but its pendulum swing returns to destroy us. Moreover, others' hot tempers are communicable. We can easily become hotheads if we associate with them (Proverbs 22:24-25).

Like a raging river at flood stage, anger undermines the foundation of wise living. So do pride and jealousy, to make a total of three ways the sinful nature reveals its ugly face in Proverbs.

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT).

Jealousy Consumes Us Like Stage Four Cancer

Jealousy is an uptight, insecure feeling produced by the fear of losing someone or something important. Jealousy and personal peace can’t coexist. We can possess one or the other, but not both simultaneously.

Peace is like a cupboard full of health-promoting food, whereas jealousy fills us with the smoke of health-wrecking cartons of cigarettes. Peace builds us up, and jealousy tears us down. “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones” (Proverbs 14:30 NLT). Our anger can hurt others, our wrath is even more out of control, but jealousy can cause more damage to others than either (Proverbs 27:4).

Jealousy generates negative emotions such as anxiety, insecurity, and anger, diminishing both mental and emotional energy and triggering increased heart rate and stomach discomfort. “According to Jonathan Dvash, a neuroscientist at the University of Haifa, if the stress and pressure of jealousy are left unchecked over time, this can lead to hypertension and heart disease.”¹

Pride Leads to Conflict and Disgrace

Pride underlies many other sins. We overestimate and exalt ourselves and our opinions above everyone else’s worth and input. We install ourselves as the only qualified directors, judges, and managers of reality. Figuratively, we wait for a vacancy in the Trinity. We think that our thoughts and ways are the only right ones. Spiritual pride is as low as pride sinks.

Conflict is inevitable when two proud people both think their thoughts and ways are superior. “Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise” (Proverbs 13:10 NLT).

Our foolish attempts to take God’s supreme place don’t amuse or entertain Him. “The Lord mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34 NLT). He detests and will punish proud people (Proverbs 16:5). Destruction and disgrace await them because “Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin” (Proverbs 21:4 NLT).

“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19 NLT). “Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2 NLT).

The Call to Live a New Life in Christ

Uncontrolled anger, jealousy, and pride are polluting elements in the new life, remnants of our former self-centered existence. Jesus died so that we who receive His new life will live for Him and leave our self-centered ways behind (2 Corinthians 5:15). The Holy Spirit provides the power.

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