Love Does Not Envy Series

Sometimes the best way to say what something is, is to say what it isn't. If a child asks you

what a smooth surface is, you would probably say it is a surface with no bumps and no rough

spots. Bumps and rough are not what smooth is, but what smooth isn't. It would be hard to

describe what smooth is without reference to its opposite, and what it isn't. If a daughter

asks a mother what she means by perfectly clean sheets, the mother will say, "I mean that

there is no dirt or stains on them." The easiest way to describe a vacuum is to say it is the

absence of air. The easiest to describe total darkness is to say there is no light, and the

easiest way to describe pure light is to say, as John does of God, He is light and in Him is no

darkness at all. When John tells us about what heaven is like, he focuses on what heaven is

not. It is the absence of night, pain, tears, sin, and death.

The point is, a quality or value can only be fully grasped by seeing its opposite, and by

knowing what it isn't. That is why Paul, after telling us two things love is-patient and kind,

follows up with a list of 8 things which love is not. Love is like all supreme values, for it is

easier to say what it isn't than to say what it is. The first thing Paul says that love is not is

envious. Pride is usually considered the first sin of man, but envy is a partner with this first

sin. Satan envied God, and he tempted Adam and Eve to envy God. He said that they could

be like God knowing good and evil. In other words, God has something you do not have, but

it can be yours if you do what I say. Envy makes the self the center of focus, and this opens

the door to all sin. Paul puts envy before pride in this list of what love isn't, for it leads to all

that is unloving.

1. Cain killed Abel and became the first criminal in history because he envied his brother.

2. Joseph brothers envied him because of his relationship to his father, and they sold him

into slavery.

3. Saul sought to kill David because of his envy of David's popularity.

4. The leaders of Israel sought to kill Jesus because they envied His popularity.

The number one cause for all non-loving behavior in human relationships is envy. Watch

children play and you will see them fight over a toy bitterly when there are dozens of other

toys to play with. It is not that they want it that bad, but they just do not like another to have

it. They are motivated by envy, for as soon as one loses interest in the toy the other will no

longer crave it either. Paul says he gave up childish things like this when he became a man.

Maturity is the ability to not need what somebody else has to be content. It is not easy to

grow up emotionally and be loving instead of envious.

We live in a world of much inequality. People do not get equal breaks. Some have better

looks, better health, more wealth, and even more spiritual gifts. This is a major problem in

the world, but also for Christians. We do not like a world where this reality kicks us in the

face almost daily, and reminds us that we are inferior to others in some way. It all seems so

unjust and unfair, and it leads easily to envy. One can get so obsessed with his own

inequality that his own gifts and blessings lose their meaning. The women sang, "Saul has

slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands." This led Saul to feel that he was

nothing, and no longer a hero. He could have been a great hero of Israel, and a great king,

even if David did surpass him, but he so let envy take over in his life that all that mattered

was the destruction of David.

Envy causes people to lose perspective and they are made to feel so inferior that with the

loss of self-love comes the loss of all love. They become so bitter that they are like one who

said, "I can't read, and therefore wish all books were burned." P. J. Bailey said, "Envy is a

coal that comes hissing hot from hell." It leads to all that is the opposite of love. It shrinks

the soul and destroys all relationships. Envy can kill the best relationships. George

Whitefield and John Wesley were great friends, but they came to a time of tension in their