INVIDIOUSNESS
The painful awareness of wanting another’s possessions or advantages is not an emotion we want to indulge in or a place we want to visit too often. We may gaze longingly at that object or desire to be in that position we feel we so deserve over another, but as Dr. Martin Shaw so explicitly says: “Envy’s a horrible motel to stay at. The pizza is cold, the air sour, there’s a party going on down the hall and you most definitely do not have an invitation. No one wanders down your end of the corridor. It’s a masterclass in smallness and distinctly uncreative.”
There were numerous moments in the bible when even the disciples were jealous of one another and were vying for attention; as we are prone to do with others.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9: 33-35
And that is the juxtaposition of Jesus’ teachings. It’s standing at the door of the auditorium, hearing the cheers, toasts and praises, but know they are not for me. I am hurt; I brood and the medal will not be hung on my neck today. But oh, we are so greedy for the praise, the fame, the glory that we believe we richly deserve.
We look longingly at what others have. The illusion is that “the grass is greener on the other side” idiom that was spoken to us from years long past. We desire. We are envious, jealous and covetous. We even resent others. And that’s a dangerous thought to think upon. And so, Matthew 6: 19-21 tells us what we ought to do.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where is your heart today?