A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot Prov. 14:30
“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor” Ex 20:17
Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6:6
Love does not envy 1 Cor. 13:4
Heavenly Father, this tapestry of Scriptures is both convicting and consoling. It’s convicting, because on a daily basis (sometimes hourly), I can be envious of anyone in sight, and covetous of anything within reach.
I can get envious of people who have less hassles and more resources; people who can eat a whole cake and lose weight; extroverts who are at home in every setting; friends who can fix anything broken in houses and cars.
I don’t covet my neighbor’s ox or donkey, but I’d love his ability to run everyday without knee pain and his photographic memory. I don’t covet my neighbor’s male or female servant, but I’d love his 2-handicap golf game and ivy-laden tree-shaded cottage at Rosemary Beach. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
But as convicting as these verses are, Father, they are even more consoling; because through the gospel, I realize that all I really need is Jesus, plus what you choose to give me. If I owned everything I envy and covet, as your Word says, my bones would rot. It would never be enough.
Indeed, ingratitude is soul cancer and hoarding is heart disease; selfishness is dignity thievery and discontent is relationship homicide. There’s a Jesus shaped vacuum in all of us that only Jesus can fill. Thankfully, he is… more and more. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ beautiful and more-than-sufficient name.