Bigger and Better

I have a confession to make. I really want an iphone. Everyone I know has one. Okay, I know that is an exaggeration, but that is what it seems like. The other day I sat across the table from a friend who had an iphone, and even though he was talking to me all I could do was stare at it as if I were Gollum, and it were the ring from Lord of the Rings. If I would have said “My precious,” in a high and broken voice it sadly would not have been far from the truth.

I have another confession to make. This is not the first time I have looked at something someone else had and immediately wondered what it might be like to have my own paws wrapped around it. I guess you could say that when it comes to envy I am a habitual offender to the nth degree. I am still not sure what the nth degree is, but it sounds serious.

The good thing, now that you are completely aware of one of my greatest struggles, is that I have come to recognize this fact about myself and it has caused me to take a closer look at the sin of envy, and come to grips with why it is such a tough one for me to overcome.

Socrates once said, “Envy is the ulcer of the soul.” If I added up every time I have seen something that is bigger and/or better and wished it were mine, that analogy becomes pretty scary in a hurry. I guess you could say I am in need of the spiritual equivalent to Pepcid AC for my envy. Unfortunately, treating envy is much more difficult than treating an ulcer, not to say that treating an ulcer is simple, but because spiritual problems usually require much more attention than physical ones. There have been different physical issues I have battled throughout my life, fortunately none of them too serious, but I can honestly say that not one has compared with the magnitude of many of the spiritual battles that have gone on in my soul, and in my mind - not the least of which is envy.

When Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that our fight is “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” we usually conjure up images of angels and demons locked in the heat of battle trying to over power each other with their supernatural abilities, and that may be what Paul is talking about. But couldn’t he also be referring to the war that is taking place in our soul. The mounting battle between the “powers of this dark world” - that want us to give into our deepest sinful desires - and God’s love, which calls us to obey Him, and flee from the devil.

Envy is a battleground in the heart of all people, and God knows it. That is why He said to the Israelites in the Old Testament, “Do not look longingly at your neighbor’s house, and do not consider what it might be like if you were married to his wife, and don’t even think about sitting behind the wheel of his car.” Okay, maybe it doesn’t say car, but I think we can safely assume a car is the modern day equivalent of a donkey.

As I have had time to consider the sin of envy, I have come to realize why it is such a dangerous sin. Like many others it involves a slippery slope. Envy does not turn anyone immediately into a licentious reprobate. If it did that we would probably be much more leery of it. The problem with envy is that it’s a creeper (that is how one of my friends describes her spicy chili that isn’t hot at first). Over time it separates us from God by shifting our focus onto whatever is bigger and/or better and causing God to appear smaller and less appealing. It is not that things like the iphone are inherently wrong. It is that those of us who look upon it with envy are.