For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. James 3:16
God desires us to see ourselves as he sees us a male or female He wove together. He made each of us with special gifts, skills, and interests to be used for His glory. When we get too focused on the things we want that we don’t have, even admiration of the other gender can lead to destruction.
Jump to Section
- You Shall Not Covet…Anything
- The Danger of Desire
- Envy and Gender Confusion
- Chris Beck, “I Lived in Hell for 10 Years”
- Facts about Gender Dysphoria
- Risky Behaviors
- Vulnerable to Stress
- God’s Prescription for Well-Being
- God Only Creates “Very Good”
- See Yourself as God Sees You
- See Yourself as Beloved by God
- Replace Envy with Love
- Finally Replace Envy with Praise
You shall not covet … anything
When God delivered the tenth commandment on Mount Sinai, he added a sweeping conclusion to the simple beginning: “You shall not covet … anything that belongs to your neighbor” Exodus 20:17). Why add anything? Maybe God wanted to emphasize that any desire can morph into envy, and envy opens the door to a parade of other sins: anger, bitterness, obsession, even murder. As James said, envy leads to “every vile practice.”
The Danger of Desire
James also cautioned his readers about the danger of desire: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (1:14–15).
The Hebrew word translated “covet” in Exodus 20:17 means to desire or to take pleasure in something in an ungoverned, unrestrained way. What starts as admiration—“a feeling of mingled wonder, esteem”—becomes desire, or covetousness, when we focus too intently and too exclusively on a person or object or goal.
Envy and Gender Confusion
Every human being struggles with envy, and any battle with envy can lead to “every vile practice.” And those who suffer from gender confusion are no exception. They often develop an unhealthy focus on the opposite sex. What they admire about that person increases their discomfort with their own biological gender. That admiration can lead to desire, which leads to envy. The envy may manifest in cross-dressing at first but can lead to harmful hormonal treatments and surgery.
Chris Beck, “I Lived in Hell for 10 Years”
Chris Beck, a 56-year-old Navy SEAL combat veteran, lived as a woman for ten years. His spiral downward from admiration to envy to lust began before he admitted to a psychologist that wearing women’s clothing made him feel comfortable. But when that so-called expert convinced Beck he was transgender, he underwent hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery in his quest for fulfillment.
When Beck announced in 2022 that he was detransitioning, he told Time magazine journalist Louise Chambers, “I have lived in hell for the past 10 years. … I look back and see how I destroyed everything in my life that was holy, the temple of God, our bodies, what we have here.” He also “suffered symptoms of trauma including depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorder.”
Unfortunately, Beck is not an exception. Other former transgenders, including Chloe Cole, admit that the hormonal treatments and surgeries did not provide the physical, mental, or emotional well-being that psychologists and surgeons promised.
Facts about Gender Dysphoria
I’m not disputing that some people suffer from gender dysphoria. They do. But our culture and many medical professionals now encourage these confused individuals, as young as ten, to act on their desires in life-altering, destructive ways.
Risky Behaviors
NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) states on its website that the brain “does not finish developing and maturing until the mid-to-late 20s. The front part of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last brain regions to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and controlling impulses. Because these skills are still developing, teens are more likely to engage in risky behaviors without considering the potential results of their decisions.” If this is true, then why are medical professionals pushing hormonal treatments on kids as young as 12 or 13?
Vulnerable to Stress
The same webpage affirms that “many mental disorders may begin to appear during adolescence” and the teen brain “may be more vulnerable to stress.” So again, if this is true, why would medical professionals recommend treatments and procedures that could aggravate mental disorders and increase stress?
God’s Prescription for Well-Being
To say that hormonal treatments and invasive surgeries are the only way, the best way, or even a way to address gender dysphoria is wrong. The God who designed the human body and fashioned every neuron in our brain is the one who can best lead us toward wholeness and wellness. As Beck noted in his interview with Time, once he reconnected with God, he was able to see the destructive path he had taken by allowing his desire to become envy.
God Only Creates “Very Good”
Envy is the fruit of dissatisfaction, so the first step is to make peace with the person God created us to be. Just as he looked at every single part of the created realm and pronounced it “very good,” he looks at each one of us and says, “very good” (See Genesis 1:31). If we are envious of someone’s athleticism or intellect, we are basically saying to God, “In this aspect, you did not make me ‘very good.’” When a gender-confused person is envious of the opposite sex, that individual is saying to God, “The way you designed me is not ‘very good.’ I can do a better job.”
See Yourself as God Sees You
Ask God to help you see yourself as he sees you—the male or female he wove together in your mother’s womb, the person he gifted with a set of skills and interests that can be used for his glory.
See Yourself as Beloved by God
Second, God loves you—the person he created, not some person you fantasize about becoming. He demonstrated that love by sending Jesus to die for you so you could live in relationship with him. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).
Replace Envy with Love
Third, recognize that envy is the opposite of love. First Corinthians 13:4 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Ask God to replace the envy in your heart with love for him, which will help you love yourself and others in a way that honors him.
Finally Replace Envy with Praise
God created desire, that “feeling of mingled wonder, esteem.” Satan, of course, wants to twist that gift into something ugly and destructive—an obsession with what God didn’t give us. Don’t allow him to lead you down that path toward “every vile practice.” Instead, let the gift of desire lead you to praise the One who gave it to you.
