Agape Love - Envy Eats You

One thing that I have found very dangerous is social media. I think that this is the understatement of the century. Not only is it dangerous because of the way people use it to bully or get into cyber arguments, but I have found it to be the easiest way to start an envy craze in yourself. I have to admit that I love social media and how it connects us, as well as for the positive uses of it, but I do believe it feels like a giant brag box at times that causes envy and eye-rolling. I've fallen into the envy mode of someone's vacation, or living room. Right now especially, I am envious of people in warm places. 

Nothing will eat you up faster than envy, which is an obsessive type of jealousy. Even God is jealous of our hearts, but He is never envious. One of the literal meanings of envy in this context is "to exert oneself for". We use energy to envy, whether we realize it or not. In fact, it is a dangerous game if you are a leader in any capacity. You get stuck in the comparison trap and find yourself driving the people around you nuts, basing your budgets, time, energies, and mind all on the thing you're obsessed with acquiring, because the neighbor, other church, that employer, that friend, etc. has that better car, ministry, job, vacation plan, etc., than you have. It will eat you into obsession. We see how it drove Joseph's brothers crazy as they envied his status in their father's eyes. It became so bad that they sold their own brother into slavery and hurt their father by saying his son was killed by a wild animal. (Genesis 37)

There are many ways envy robs us of relationship and of showing love. Firstly, it keep us from feeling happy for someone. When we live in our own desires and comparisons of someone else, we tend to not like the person who has what we want. In fact, we despise them more when they get something nice, or when something goes right for them, meaning we definitely don't celebrate with them and for them. This is a relationship, team, even a faith, killer. We are so focused on what we don't have that that other person has, we begin to resent them and even resent God.

We also walk in the belief that life should be fair, when in reality, God never said life was fair, nor did Jesus teach this. Just look at the story of the workers in the vineyard. The landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers for his fields. He also hired some towards the end of the day, and they all got the same exact wage. While the early workers thought this wasn't fair, Jesus tells us in this story that those in the back will be brought to the front. (Matthew 20:1-16) We can't believe everyone should have the same amount because we'll go crazy keeping track. We need to believe that God has our best interest and knows what we need, when we need it. Trust Him and show you trust Him.

Envy will drive you insane. You will no longer be an effective part of ministry because you are so busy and obsessed with getting what you don't have. You'll no longer be able to see straight and see what is going on around you because you are so fixated on that thing. Saul gets so envious and obsessed with killing David, that he devotes his energies into finding him. (1 Samuel 18) What could you be possibly missing because you can't tear focus off of what you're obsessed about? Let go of those blinders and start being grateful for what God is doing in your life.

Conquering envy comes from living a life of gratitude and contentment. You can find these characters if you just stop to be thankful for the provisions and blessings you do have. What better way to reveal trust to the One who knows what you need better than anyone else. Consider what you have and why it's the best for you in this moment.

Scripture to Read:

Psalm 37:1-9

Questions to Ponder:

What are some things you catch yourself becoming envious of? 

According to Psalm 37, why is being envious pointless?

What can you do to conquer envy in your life specifically?