it’s in the focus...

envy is a choice. i can choose to rejoice, or i can choose to resent. those are the options. the good news is if you learn to rejoice at GOD’s goodness to others, you’ll have a lot more to be happy about.

we all need to have the attitude of grandparents. you can brag to them, and they don’t think you’re bragging. you can say, “you wouldn’t believe what the kids did this week!” and they’d say, “that’s great!” you tell somebody else and they’d go, “but my kids…” like, “my kid was inmate of the month in prison.” they have to one-up you every time. there’s no guile in grandparents.

but eventually your grandparents die off. so we need to be grandparents to each other. and we all need a place where we not only share our hurts, but we also share our successes and everybody goes, “that is great!” when a sorrow is shared, it is cut in half. when a joy is shared, it’s doubled. that’s very important. that’s what we do in our life groups at our church or we should do.

another antidote to envy is to be grateful for what you have. instead of focusing so much on what you don’t have and what didn’t happen, be grateful for what you do have. this also has to be learned. the apostle paul wrote, i have learned to be content. it was a learning process.

so instead of complaining like these workers did about what wasn’t happening, what they didn’t get, you learn to realize that you’d have nothing without GOD, without HIS goodness and what HE’s given to you.

1 corinthians 4.7b-8a (msg) says, isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from GOD? so what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? you already have all you need.

envy is based on a myth. the myth is i have to have more to be happy. i have to have something i don’t have now to be happy. and you get caught up in this myth and focused on everyone else. envy always looks at others and asks, “why them? but gratitude says, “why me? why did i get this? i don’t deserve what i have.” it totally flips around the perspective of our mind.

the truth is although we all struggle with envy, it’s hard to admit it. one of the reasons why is because it is such an ugly feeling toward others. when you’re envious of others, you really want them to fail. you don’t tell anyone else, but it really makes your day when they have a bad day because you feel better because they don’t have something. when you think about that, that’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?

just a thought from the front porch…