love the ‘two is better than one’ passage. What an incredible word on the power of companionship!
And yet, it was verse 4 that caught my meditative attention. And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Envy is a powerful negative motivator. That is so true. I see something my neighbor or ‘brother’ has, which I like, and I all of a sudden need/want one too. Advertisers constantly play on the emotion of need/want to lure us to buy this, that and everything.
Probably not every thing that motivates me to need/want something is envy, but envy is lurking just around the corner even when it isn’t the primary motivator!
Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. I am sure I have to think more deeply about it to mine its destructive powers but I do know that envy can destroy a relationship. It can also cause us to go to dark places of desire and even plotting how to get what it is that we envy. And even if I don’t do something illegal to gain what I envy, it chews up my resources and generally that which I envied doesn’t give me the satisfaction when acquired that I thought it would. All the while envy and the desire for whatever it is I envy has been hardening my heart for the needs of others. And this does not honor the Lord…
Lord, as I think and meditate, I am realizing all the more how insidious envy is. Its roots can twist my heart in to a selfish mass of rotting flesh, turning my gaze inward rather than outward to those in need.
Please, Lord, give me Your heart, a heart that seeks the best for others and does not dry up on the vine of self-absorption. Lord, I can only grow in this area though You in me… so this is what I pray for You in me… through Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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