Envy is Not Pretty
I Samuel 18:6-9
February 9, 2005
Ash Wednesday
I love music. All kinds of music. If you look through my CD collection, you will find Contemporary Christian, Country, Classic Rock, Opera, Broadway Show Tunes, and Classical. I like Willie Nelson, George Strait, The Beatles, Bon Jovi, Chicago, Michael W. Smith, and Beethoven. I just love music.
Music is what got me through High School. I wasn’t a great student; had too much other stuff on my mind, mostly a twirler with long brown hair named Toni. But I loved music and my tenor sax. I was in marching band, pep band, concert band, and jazz band (played a solo at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1971). I still have a cassette tape of that. I lived for band.
One of the things that I have never been able to understand is why I can’t sing. I really have an awful voice. I’m tone deaf, but I love to sing. I sing in the shower. I sing in the car when I am alone. I sing while I’m mowing the lawn. I just don’t sing around other people because I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
I sometimes can’t understand God. I can’t figure out why God instilled in me such a love of music, but didn’t give me a voice. I just can’t understand. I don’t need a great solo voice. I would settle for a passable voice which would be good enough for a choir. But God seems to have shortchanged me in that department.
I find that I am often envious of those who can sing. I watch and listen to people sing and wish I could do that. It looks like so much fun. I can’t imagine how great it would be to have what my wife calls “the bedroom voice” of Barry White. I would love to be Jimmy Buffett of Margaritaville fame (by the way, we went into his bar in Jamaica last summer. In case you‘re wondering, we didn‘t have any booze…didn‘t even buy a t-shirt). I would love to be Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, or Kenny Rodgers, or Placido Domingo, or Tony Bennett, or Alan Jackson. I wouldn’t mind being able to sing like Al, or Ralph, or Chris, or Kenny, or any of the rest of you guys in the choir. I honestly do envy those who can sing.
Envy is not pretty. Maxie Dunnam, retired President of Asbury Theological Seminary, says that envy is the sin that no one confesses. We will confess to being proud, for example. Jimmy Carter confessed to lusting in his heart. We might as well confess to the sin of anger because it is so easy to see. But envy…that’s another story. That one is so hard to admit. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones.”
If I could again quote Maxie Dunnam: “Envy is the sin of the evil eye. It always sees and desires what it doesn’t have. Its punishment is that it will never have what it sees and desires, because there will always be more to see than to possess.”
If you want to talk about the biblical chronology, envy is the second sin. The first was pride which led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Envy came next and resulted in the murder of Cain by his brother Abel.
Paul writes to the Galatians and says this: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:19-21).
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul is talking about God’s punishment of humankind because of their disobedience. He says this. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents, they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1:28-31).
Can I be honest with you for a minute? I’ll admit that I am envious of Luciano Pavarotti. But somehow, that doesn’t seem to be in the same league of sins as witchcraft, drunkenness, orgies, murder, depravity, debauchery, fits of rage, heartlessness, or ruthlessness. But there it is in black and white in the Bible. I guess that I am really in more trouble than I realize.
King Saul was the leader of the nation of Israel. The book of I Samuel tells us about him. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish…He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. (I Samuel 9:1-2). Now realize what Saul had. He had great looks and a winning personality. He was from a wealthy family and had been accorded all of the advantages that money offers. He had been picked out by God to be King of Israel. He had the power and prestige of that office. His word was law. What he said went. When he said “jump,” people around him said “how high?“ He was the final earthly arbiter of the affairs of the nation.
And then this little runt of a shepherd named David came along, and with a lucky throw of his slingshot, killed the giant Goliath. Suddenly the women from all across Israel could be seen and heard dancing and singing. “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (I Samuel 18:7). David went on to have great success as a commander in Saul’s army. The Bible then says that “Saul eyed David from that day on” (I Samuel 18:9). His envy kicked in. Saul had the power, but he envied David’s rapport with and support of the people. From that point on, he tried to kill him. Envy leads to all sorts of sins, doesn’t it?
Let’s face some facts. The fact of the matter is that there will always be someone better than you are: smarter, better looking, richer, stronger, more capable, easier to get along with. No matter who you are, there is always someone out there who is better.
If you are in the habit of always comparing yourself with others, you are going to come out on the short end of the stick. If you find yourself doing that, you are sending a message to God of which you might be unaware. If you are always comparing yourself to others and finding that you are envious of them or would like to be like them, you are telling God in a not-so-subtle way that you don’t think he created you good enough.
Envy of others is a way of denying God’s creation. If you are envious of another, you are denying that God made you a person of worth and value in your own right. You are telling God that you know better. You are telling God that you could have done a better job. You are telling God that you know best. Is that a message you want to send? I don’t think so. And I don’t think that you think so either. But that is the message that gets sent nonetheless.
Envy is an emotion that refuses to recognize the goodness of God that has been unfolded upon us. God’s love for us has been shown in so many extravagant ways. Yet, when we fall into the trap of envy, we are denying that extravagance. Envy is a way of telling God that we think he didn’t do enough for us.
So what do we do? Where do we go from here? Is there a plan of attack to rid ourselves of the sin of envy? Is there a way that we can turn our envy into a positive feeling of contentment about the way we are?
Let me give you three ideas. First and foremost, re-ignite your love of God. Recognize God’s love, mercy, tenderness, care, and goodness. Accept yourself as a creation of God. Remember the account in the first chapter of Genesis that tells us that when God saw everything he made, he pronounced the whole universe good. We are part of that creation. We are part of the universe that God has called good. No one or nothing can take that away from us. No one or nothing can make bad what God has called good. If we recognize our innate goodness, then there is no reason to want to be something or someone else.
Secondly, use the brain that God gave you. You might envy the fame and fortune of Tiger Woods, or the President of the United States, or the CEO of General Motors, but realize that they have their own set of unique problems. Everybody has his or her own set of positives and negatives. Use the ability that God gave you to reason. Then you will be able to see the real facts of the matter.
And finally, the best way I can think of to get to the root of the sin of envy is to rely on the strength of Jesus Christ. We can’t fight ANY sin on our own, but need the power that Jesus provides. Jesus provides us with mercy and forgiveness, as well as the grace and power to overcome our sins. Let us claim the power which was claimed by the Apostle Paul when he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).
I have an assignment for you for the next few days. Take a minute each day and think about the ways that you have been blessed by God. Think for a few minutes about the gifts that God has given you. Think for a minute about all of the ways that God has worked in your life. And then ask yourself why you have any reason at all to be envious of anybody? I have a feeling that you will discover a new sense of self-worth. I have a feeling that the old envy bug will die away and you will live more contentedly within the love and grace of our Lord.
