Space envy

Envy isn’t a bad feeling as some people seem to perceive it to be but rather, a pain felt at another’s good fortune coupled with a desire to see them lose it. James 3:16 states, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” And if you know God, He is not a God of confusion but rather a God of heavenly order. When envy enters the political arena, scripture describes this as “rottenness” because it does not just harm the politician but destroys the entire social order. But why is a politician’s envy so dangerous? From the perspective of scripture, it is because it transforms leadership into tyranny.

Sometimes in life, people can tend to get space envy where, instead of focusing and making what we have grow, we compare ourselves with others and what they have, complain about how what they have looks better than ours and wish we had what others have while completely ignoring what we already own for ourselves. Have you ever caught yourself looking at somebody else’s yard and wonder why theirs looks better? Even if your neighbor has the same exact soil, sunlight and rainfall as you do? In the end, after all the hoping and the wishing, you realize that the only difference between your yard and his is the fact that he devoted his time and effort despite a very busy schedule and kept the hours that were necessary in order to turn his yard around.

Perhaps the most famous biblical example of “political envy” is found in Mark 15:10, where the Roman governor Pilate realizes that the religious-political leaders handed Jesus over specifically “out of envy.” It was their fear of losing their influence that led them to conspire to commit judicial murder.

When a leader’s policy is driven by “taking away” rather than “building up,” it is often seen as a manifestation of envy. It aims to satisfy a personal resentment of another’s success, thus creating “the rottenness of the bones” of a nation. Such an outcome is brought about when an envious politician pulls others down as compared to a just leader who lifts up the community. An envious leader sees another’s gain as their loss, while a just leader sees another’s gain as a win for their community.

God is always looking for His people to work their land and to turn their soil around so that every space can reflect His goodness and glory. Scripture generally warns that nations “eaten with envy are rotten to the core.” When leaders are driven by envy, the state of the nation is in constant anxiousness and bitterness, while a just leader keeps his people in peace and gratitude simply because he builds instead of takes. Envy is the “silent killer” of nations because it seeks only to destroy and when a politician’s envious feelings move into national policy, the nation’s “best and brightest” either leave or go dormant.

So back to our own yards. Proverbs 24 says the sluggard had been given a field to look after and God was holding him accountable for that space. God has designed all of our lives so that we can be accountable for our yards – areas we have all been entrusted with such as our homes, schools and even our government. Each and every one of us has a yard to grow and harvest and God will not ask us about other people’s yards but about our own. He knows exactly where we are positioned and what potential is within us and it is in those areas of potential where God asks us to OWN our yard.

There’s so much to do in our own yard and we must take responsibility for it instead of peering over the fence and looking at our neighbor’s work. Today’s world seems to resemble a Cain and Abel cycle where envy leads to slander, that then leads to hatred and violence. A nation divided by envy cannot defend itself against external enemies because it is too busy fighting an internal “class war.” The only way to save a nation from envy is a return of people to gratitude and contentment.

We all serve the same God and have the same Word and promises extended to all our lives and all we have to do is invest in our own yard without looking over the fence.