"Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked." PR 24:19
Newspapers invented "yellow journalism." TV NEWS developed the "Special Report." Hollywood created the film version of the "cliff hanger serial." All of them were designed to offer a mirage of an oasis, while creating a thirst they could never quench. They offered salt water questions, and profited from people who could not get enough answers to quench their thirst. Bad news became entertainment. Entertainment became the world's substitute for joy. Like the old Sonny and Cher song says, "The beat goes on."
Fretting whets a ravenous appetite, and creates a ferocious thirst, but it provides no relief or satisfaction. Insanity has been defined as, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." To expect thirst to be quenched by drinkng salt water is a from of insanity. Jesus characterized the citizens of His Kingdom as those who, "Hunger and thirst after righteousness." Matthew 5:6
To fret over evil only whets an appetite for relief or revenge, but it does not describe what Jesus had in mind for the future, of the citizens of The Kingdom. The Beatitudes serve as a preamble of His Constitution. The way one of His citizens comes on, is the way a citizen must go on. Jesus offers satisfying relief for thirsty people. The world says, "Stay thirsty my friends." Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." John 7:37
Fretting and envying produce a scorched earth in the soul of a person. Fret is a word used in the Bible to refer to anger. It is not an immediate outburst, but a result of providing endless kindling to a smoldering rage against an offense, received or perceived. Fretting and envying are like two sticks rubbed together, until they create an internal heat that becomes a combustible fire. The vexation on the inside eventually becomes a visible flame, for all to see.
God never intended for His children to live in a self-induced, arid climate, that sheds more heat than light on current events, and irritating characters. The world places a great value on the zealot who can zing his offender with a zany one-liner that zaps him into submission. God hates that kind of childish display of unbridled temper. He wants something greater expressed to those who are hostile to Him. Grace.
When God's children take up His offense, they must fear becoming more offensive to Him, than the original act of the offender. God expects more of His children, than envy, and jealousy. He doesn't desire for them to become what He hates, but to conform themselves to His character.
Fretting is not praying. Envying is not interceding. Praying does not always change the crisis, but it always improves the character of someone in the middle of it. Interceding for someone who is hostile to God, does not always change them, but it keeps a child of God from hating them, while God is in the process of changing them, into one of the family. While logging time, in the waiting room,
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!