In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells us that Love does not envy. The Greek word translated “envy” means “to burn with zeal” which implies boiling over with envy, hatred, or anger. In the context of 1 Corinthians 13, the idea is that love does not focus on personal desires. It is not eager to increase possessions. God’s type of love is selfless, not selfish.
Envy is the opposite of God’s command not to covet (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) but most of us still struggle with envying other people’s stuff. That brings us to our verse for the day which is from Proverbs 14:30:
Envy rots the bones.
Although envy does not cause destruction immediately like acid, over time it weakens us from the inside. Envy is such a powerful force that it can literally cause physical illness and here is one way that might happen:
- I really like that person’s car and I feel inadequate since I don’t have one
- I need to work harder in order to make more $$ so I can buy one of those cars too
- I would like to be home for dinner tonight but I’m working late again
- My wife has lost respect for me because I don’t help out much with the kids
- I missed most of my kid’s games this season
- I’m really stressed from working long hours and dealing with the strain on our family; my anxiety level is through the roof and I’m not sleeping well
- I finally made enough $$ to afford that car but it didn’t give me any more joy and my family thinks I might just love that car more than them which causes me even more stress.
In this over-simplified but very common example, envy is at the root of the problem.
When we envy what others have, we are saying to God that we are not grateful for the blessings He has given us. What if you gave one of your kids something nice but instead of thanking you they instead only talked about wanting something someone else has? That is how God feels about us when we are envious.
So in addition to potentially threatening our physical health, envy can separate us from God and leave us even more empty than we would be otherwise.
Most of us will still struggle with envy when we leave here today but maybe if we work on recognizing it and talking through some strategies, we can start to limit the destructive power of envy in our lives.
Questions:
- Do you think people today struggle with envy more or less than the people who were alive thousands of years ago when today’s verse was written?
- Do you agree that envy can cause us to become physically ill?
- Why do you think God hates envy so much?
- What are some strategies we can use to help reduce envy?
- If we can reduce envy, what are some of the positive effects it might have on our lives?
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