Resentment kills a fool,
    and envy slays the simple.
I myself have seen a fool taking root,
    but suddenly his house was cursed. 
Job 5:2-3

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The words of wisdom from Job’s “friend” Eliphaz in today’s Scripture text, were spoken in a misguided attempt to stop Job from grieving over the shock of the loss of his wealth and then his family. Even still, there is timeless truth in them. Resentment will bring you down and envy will take you down a destructive path. 

So what is envy? It is the “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. In other words, it’s self-torture that poisons a person and frequently harms others.

As humans, we all have experienced envy many times in our lives. Growing up, I was frequently envious, especially during my teen years. It did nothing but cause me misery, even if it was only for a day or two.

As adults, we don’t exactly grow out of envy’s reach. Besides the usual complaints and jealousies—he has a great wife or more hair than I do, a nicer car, a bigger house or greener lawn, better career, smarter kids, ad nauseam—there is the Internet, especially social media—influencers, celebrities, and just regular people can contribute to feelings of inferiority and envy very quickly.

However, the truth is that everyone has their own unique life with its own joys and sorrows, advantages and struggles. Envying others is pointless because you can only live your own life, and if you try to take what someone else has, it will only be bitter and hollow for you sooner or later.

A better way to live is with gratitude and generosity as you surrender more deeply to God. These postures of the heart give us freedom, joy, and a durable peace. Over time, like Paul, “…I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” (Philippians 4:11). Contentment is not the same as complacency. I still have ambition but I am happy, satisfied. Grateful for all that I have. This frees me from envy. One benefit is that I enjoy others more and more easily celebrate the good things in their lives because I do not envy them. 

Next Steps

Ask God to give you a grateful heart. Try to pray for at least five minutes just praising God for anything and everything you can think of in your life and the lives of others. Ask God to help you remember to praise Him for things in your life.

Ask God to show you ways to be generous in your daily life. He will. So there is a double joy in that because first, you are helping another and it feels good. The second joy is realizing that the Creator of All that is seen and all that is unseen actually heard your prayer and answered you! That will always be amazing and exciting.

For an interesting perspective on envy, generosity, and contentment – contemplate the timeless truth and wisdom found in Psalm 37 in The Message version of the Bible.