Battling Envy
00:00:00.000 | Gene writes in to ask, "Pastor John, how do I handle the envy and jealousy that are
00:00:08.560 | eating away at me?"
00:00:10.440 | So envy and jealousy are two distinct topics here on the table.
00:00:13.320 | Perhaps we can break this into two podcasts and address jealousy next time.
00:00:17.280 | So Pastor John, start with envy.
00:00:18.680 | What would you say to Gene?
00:00:20.860 | It's not wrong to want something that you don't have.
00:00:25.280 | We usually think of envy that way.
00:00:27.200 | I want that, something that person has.
00:00:31.680 | In fact, we wouldn't even pray if we didn't want things we didn't have.
00:00:36.760 | That's what prayer is.
00:00:40.520 | In fact, I would say all of life is either thanksgiving for what God has given us or
00:00:46.400 | aspiration for something that might be good for us.
00:00:50.880 | So the question is, what makes envy evil?
00:00:54.760 | What makes the wanting of something evil?
00:00:58.240 | Proverbs 37, "Fret not yourself because of evildoers.
00:01:02.160 | Be not envious of wrongdoers."
00:01:05.800 | It seems like people were looking at those who were prospering in their wrongdoing.
00:01:10.880 | They had things and they were feeling envious of it.
00:01:15.780 | Or Proverbs 14, "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones
00:01:23.120 | rot."
00:01:24.920 | Or Matthew 27, "For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Jesus
00:01:31.080 | up."
00:01:32.080 | So envy is a horrible thing.
00:01:33.440 | It resulted in the killing of the Son of God.
00:01:36.760 | That was a motive behind the destruction of Jesus.
00:01:42.560 | Or Romans 1, "Since they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them
00:01:48.080 | up to a debased mind.
00:01:50.120 | They were filled with envy, murder, strife."
00:01:54.200 | Same thing in 1 Peter 2, "Put away malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all
00:02:00.480 | slander."
00:02:01.480 | So, clearly, this is a good question.
00:02:07.100 | We don't want to be eaten up by something that crucified the Son of God and that is
00:02:11.440 | all tied up with hypocrisy and deceit and slander and evil.
00:02:17.820 | So when I try to get at what the essence of it is and how to handle it, it seems to me
00:02:22.880 | that those texts have some clues in them.
00:02:26.280 | It seems to be born, envy seems to be born of a restless heart that does not find God
00:02:34.120 | satisfying.
00:02:36.700 | So we're craving and we're yearning, we're aching toward what somebody else has because
00:02:42.960 | God himself is not satisfying our soul.
00:02:48.520 | So envy is a wanting something, some gift or some ability or some looks or something
00:02:56.160 | that somebody else has with one of two feelings that make it bad.
00:03:01.880 | Either resentment that they have it and you don't and so your heart is irritated, not
00:03:08.320 | just that you want it, but that they have it and you don't.
00:03:11.000 | And that's loveless.
00:03:12.800 | And when we're upset that somebody else has something and we don't have it and it makes
00:03:17.000 | us irritated and angry, we know that lovelessness has gripped our soul.
00:03:24.920 | Or a discontent, not just resentment that they have it, but a discontent on our own
00:03:29.920 | soul that makes us distrustful of God or angry at God.
00:03:33.240 | Why didn't you give me that?
00:03:35.120 | Why did they have it and I don't?
00:03:36.480 | Why did you withhold this from me?
00:03:38.800 | I know Tony, in my teenage years, the fact that I couldn't talk in front of a group
00:03:44.560 | came the closest to make me envious.
00:03:46.400 | I'd see these people who could speak so easily in front of groups and I couldn't.
00:03:52.120 | Or to this very day, the fact that I read so slowly, I have to constantly go back to
00:03:57.040 | God and say, "Lord, I could accomplish so much more, I think.
00:04:03.040 | If you had just given me the ability to read as fast as Tony Ranke could read."
00:04:08.040 | No, don't start.
00:04:10.040 | And you really have to revisit these things over and over again and lay them down and
00:04:17.600 | say, "God, I trust you.
00:04:18.840 | You are good."
00:04:21.160 | So I think at bottom, the remedy is not that I am speaking of being in need, this is a
00:04:30.200 | quote from Philippians, "For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
00:04:35.480 | I know how to be brought low, I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.
00:04:40.240 | I've learned the secret of facing plenty."
00:04:44.480 | So there you've got enough.
00:04:46.040 | Or hunger.
00:04:47.040 | Now you could start feeling envious.
00:04:48.040 | "They have more.
00:04:49.040 | I want more.
00:04:50.040 | I don't have enough.
00:04:51.040 | They have plenty."
00:04:52.200 | And Paul says there's a secret of trust in the goodness of God that enables you to feel
00:04:57.840 | contentment in all that you have.
00:05:00.680 | So I think the key is trust Him with what He has given us, and only ask for things that
00:05:09.440 | would honor Him more, and then be content with what God gives us.
00:05:14.640 | All right.
00:05:15.640 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:05:18.040 | Email your questions to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org, and you can visit us online at DesiringGod.org
00:05:23.200 | to find thousands of other free books, articles, sermons, and other resources from John Piper.
00:05:27.160 | I'm your host, Tony Ranke.
00:05:28.480 | Thanks for listening.
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