ENVY

“Love does not envy.” (1 Corinthians 13:4)

The desire to have what others have, to be what they are, is absurd. When we compare ourselves with others we can feel deprived and angry. We can begin to resent their seeming good fortune. We want their skills, their ease of life, their health, their circumstances, their prospects. Instead of enjoying what they are, and how they have been blessed, we envy them, and that envy poisons our relationships, and destroys our happiness. Shakespeare warns us in Othello:

“O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on.”

Envy rejects the gifts God gives us, and resents our limits. Envy wants it all – or for no one to have anything. Envy is a reaction against differences. Instead of seeing the advantages of others as a challenge to succeed and excel, envy seeks to take away from others what they have. It is the essence of Marxism. It is a leveling down, a compulsory conformism, a denial of distinction. When envy becomes a national or ethnic characteristic, it results in rivalry and violent reaction. It fuels social injustice and conflicts, such as in the Middle East today.

Psalm 73 is the story of a man who fell ill from envy, and who was healed.

“I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.

They are free from the burdens common to man;

they are not plagued by human ills.”

Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.”

It reminds me of year-end letters from friends, who tell you all the good things they have done in the previous year, and all the blessings in the lives of their children and grandchildren. They never tell you their struggles and sorrows. The impression given is that their lives are constant sunshine, and in comparison with yours, so much better. We can envy these rosy pictures of their lives. We can resent them and get angry with God.

“What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch?

Nobody’s tending the store.

The wicked get by with everything;

they have it made, piling up riches.

I’ve been stupid to play by the rules;

what has it gotten me?

A long run of bad luck, that’s what –

a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.”

Envy leads to resentment, anger, and self-pity. The only antidote is to trust in God and his love for you. He has his purposes, and you must trust in what he is doing. God knows what he is doing. There is more to this than meets the eye.

“Until I entered the sanctuary of God.

Then I saw the whole picture:

The slippery road you’ve put them on,

with a final crash in the ditch of delusions.

In the blink of an eye, disaster!

A blind curve in the dark, and nightmare!

We wake up and rub our eyes….Nothing.

There’s nothing to them. And there never was.”

There is so much we cannot know about what is going on in the lives of others. We may envy their apparent success, but do we want their hidden struggles and sorrows too? There is nothing so blinding as envy. The serpent, the devil, our weak sinful nature, can make even Paradise appear an insult. Eve was made to feel discontented with what she had been given. So can we be, until we turn to Jesus for guidance, and seek first his kingdom and his life in all its fullness.

“When I was beleaguered and bitter,

totally consumed by envy,

I was totally ignorant,

a dumb ox in your presence,

but you’ve taken my hand.

You wisely and tenderly lead me,

and then you bless me.

You’re all I want in heaven!

You’re all I want on earth.!”

The only answer to envy is trust in the love of God as seen in Jesus. He did not cling to equality with God but shared himself with us.

“He has equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human. Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”

The love of God as seen in Christ’s descent from heaven and death on the Cross, eliminates envy. When we go into God’s sanctuary, we find the presence of the loving, sacrificing Christ. Envy is defeated by the love of God in Christ. We encounter a God who is not immune to our needs, not withholding his blessing from us, but is doing everything he can to heal us, and give us his abundant eternal life. He gives, not only himself, but his people in the Body of Christ, to share their gifts with us. We learn to appreciate these gifts, to respond in thanks, to count our blessings, and to focus on what we have rather than on what we don’t have.

God’s love is seen in his sharing with us that which is most precious to him. We bear the image of God when we learn to love in the same way. Instead of love being envious, love shares, and gives generously. Instead of us wanting to be or to have what is not ours, we learn to appreciate who we are and what we can contribute to others. We learn to value what we have been given, and what we can do for others.

A Prayer:

Teach us, Father, in whatever state we are, to be content, that we may know both how to be abased and how to abound; that in prosperity we may bless you, who gives us richly all things to enjoy, and in adversity may not allow our faith in your love to fail. Help us to rejoice in the differences between us, and to appreciate what others can contribute to our lives. Allow us to see what we can share with them, and to do so freely. We thank you for giving us your love through Jesus, so that our envy might be forgiven and healed; through his great Name. Amen.

GUIDE FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Read Mark 7:20-23. What is the origin and source of envy?

2. Why do we envy God’s life?

3. Read 1 Corinthians 12:21-26. Why is the desire to have what others have so ridiculous?

4. Share an example of jealousy as a green-eyed monster?

5. Why is envy the essence of Marxism?

6. How does envy affect politics and international relations?

7. How do you react to year-end letters? Why do friends paint such a rosy picture of their lives and hide their challenges?

8. How can envy blind you?

9. Read Psalm 73. What is God’s antidote to envy?

10. Read Philippians 2:6-8. How is envy defeated?