Love does not envy...

1 Corinthians 13:4
….Love does not envy…

One of the most misunderstood sins is envy. Many people confuse it with having a dream for a better life. A dream is a gift of motivation from God for reaching a goal that can give you satisfaction in life. Envy is a desire to have something that someone else has. The term for this is greed.

Envy will always grow to become an obsession. It’s inevitable. Envy seems small at first, and relatively harmless, but before you know you are making excuses and coming up with justification for why you have to have something. At this point, something you never had any use for in the past becomes a need and all because someone you admire has one.

Advertisers use envy to get you to buy their product. A perfect example of this is digital cameras. At the store I work for, I have customers ask if they should upgrade to a higher mega pixel because they saw an advertisement for the latest generation Nikon. What I tell them is that if they aren’t going to make any prints bigger than a 16x20 then they don’t need any more than six mega pixels. To upgrade would be an incredible waste of money.

The point of this is that just because an advertiser tells you it’s a need, or a celebrity uses the product, that doesn’t mean you should have to have it.

It is nothing more than a selfish desire to obtain someone else’s status. I truly believe envy is at the apex of selfishness. When you envy, you are telling yourself that what you want is more important than someone else’s need.

Mr. Jones has a brand new, cherry red, Corvette, and you are stuck with a 1981 Ford Mustang, that you inherited from your family. No one in your family took care of it, so you worked on it, fixing each problem as it came up, and you have it running properly. Next to Mr. Jones’ Corvette, your car looks like a piece of junk, (or so you think) so you want his car, not because it will get you where you’re going any better, but you think it will because, after all, it is a Corvette. This thought process will eventually lead you to covet the car, and eventually hate Mr. Jones, even though he didn’t do anything wrong but buy a new car.

The point of this is that Mr. Jones worked hard to buy a new car, and maybe his car broke down, you don’t know, but in the end you feel your desire for his car is more important than his need.

When you envy what someone else has, you believe what God gave you is inadequate. When God made us, he gave each one of us different strengths, and weaknesses. God tells us that he will always take care of our needs, but envy tells us to forget our needs because what we desire is more important. Having food, and shelter is by far more important than a brand new Corvette, but envy will twist your priorities, and say, “But aren’t you more important than Mr. Jones?”

Envy doesn’t think about needs, yours, or someone else’s, it just concerns itself with your wants and how to obtain the object of its desire. The only way to overcome this most undesirable trait is to continue putting others before yourself, and trust that God knows what you need before you ask him.

Enjoy,
Allen

Beware of the bad leader

Proverbs 1:10-19
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
11 If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
let's waylay some harmless soul;
12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us,
and we will share a common purse"-
15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into sin,
they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net
in full view of all the birds!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they waylay only themselves!
19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
It takes away the lives of those who get it.

I remember in high school how fitting in meant so much to so many people. The cliques would usually have a leader, and the rest would be followers. The leader’s role was to tell the followers what to do, and how to do it; how to dress, talk, or what they were going to do after school. The only reason that people belonged to such a clique was, that was where they felt they belonged, and the leader would be so welcoming.

These cliques, though seemingly harmless, had a big problem. The leaders made all the decisions, which left the followers without the need to think for themselves. Any decision the leader made was acted on without question. If the leader said, “let’s ditch.” all the followers did it. Without the leader, the followers lost their identity.

Bad leaders will entice a follower with promises of money, popularity, or a place where they’re always welcome. The followers of these leaders have very little initiative to get what they want on their own. They’re usually lazy, and in some cases greedy. The enticement by the leader is money with half the work, and twice the speed. These followers are the first ones in line for the get rich quick schemes. They will usually do what ever the leader says no matter what the cost, even if it takes someone else’s freedom, or life.

The greedy man’s golden rule, “He who has the gold, makes the rules.” is a prime example of someone preying on another person’s envy and greed to force that person to follow them. These leaders think that just because they have money, or a quick way to get it, that it gives them the right to be in charge. They constantly make empty promises to their followers. They will use the promises to string the followers along without any genuine concern for the safety or happiness of the follower. If they ever get caught for theft, or for any crime, they will try to make their followers the scapegoat.

According to Proverbs 1:10-19, you should never follow these types of leaders. Not only will they pay for their crimes, but by association, their followers will as well.

Challenge: Learn the difference between a good, and bad leader, then learn how to avoid the bad leader. Following the good leader will lead to a successful life. You won’t ever be caught for a crime you didn’t commit.

Enjoy,
Allen