¹⁴But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

Behavior that does not demonstrate “gentleness in wisdom” (James 3:13) is abundantly evident. James lists four examples here, familiar to all of us. Although this is not an exclusive catalogue of the sins of the flesh, they are certainly damaging to the Christian community and one’s Christian testimony. Let’s look at each of these in light of what James wrote earlier:

[E]ach one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (James 1:14–15)

Jealousy and selfish ambition are specific outcomes of a heart carried away by lust. The core temptation of the heart is the self-centeredness of sin, the assumption that I am entitled to all things that I desire; that is lust. When lust is conceived, that is, embraced inwardly, it inexorably “gives birth to sin,” which in this case is outward arrogance and distortion of reality (that is, lying against the truth). The end result of this pattern of living is destruction of relationships and a numbness of one’s spiritual life. This is a living death; while the person may be biologically alive, he is living a soul death, like a spiritual zombie, alive but dead.

Jealousy has been called a cancer of the soul; it eats away at a person’s life until he or she is dead inwardly and relationally. Jealousy is not just a desire for what others have (that would be envy). Jealousy is the desire to be in the place of the person who has what I want, and that is the focus more than the thing itself. What good is a Christian, someone who professes faith in Christ, who lives his or her life to be someone else?

Selfish ambition is closely tied to jealousy and driven by it outwardly. Ambition in itself is not a problem when the motive is good (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:9, 1 Tim. 3:1). But when the desire to get ahead of others is undertaken to exalt oneself over others at the expense of loving others, that is not good.

Arrogance is an outward demonstration of jealousy and selfish ambition. This attitude can look like self-promotion, but it covers up or compensates for the feeling of inferiority one has toward those of whom he is jealous. Or it can be the outward persona of someone portraying himself as better than others. In all this, arrogance is a lie, a distortion of reality of who one really is.

Lord, may the root of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition not take root in my life, so that I will not be arrogant or live in a false reality.