When was the last time you received news about the accomplishment or promotion of a friend you know and love? How did you react to the news? Were you truly happy? Or did that something within you die? Did you wish that it was rather you in the spotlight?
I know the feeling because I have been there a few times and so permit me share with you what I’ve found out about that. First of all, I found that the majority of times when I have felt like something died in me the minute someone else achieved something, it has been when I looked at the great news through the eye of the near impossible situation I am navigating. So because my heart is yearning for some form of breakthrough, it has been difficult for me to rejoice with someone else for whom God has done something special.
Secondly, sometimes it has been the greatness in me yearning for its own expression and not really an impossibility to rejoice with others. You know how you see someone doing something and something within you tells you that you should be doing that. In one way that can be a good thing since it points out to you the potential that has been lying dormant within you.
Thirdly it has simply been, yeah let’s face it and call it by its name, envy. But while owning up to that truth we also need to realize that true love neither envies, boasts nor is proud. This will therefore be a good place to start examining our motives. Either one of the possibilities above can only hold true when this one has been eliminated. The presence or absence of envy in your life is a very good indicator of where you stand in your love for God and for others.
Wondering what envy really is? Dictionary.com defines it as a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc. So there you have it. Now what are you gonna do about it?
The Bible commands us to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. To what extent do you obey that command? That is the extent to which you genuinely love.
Journey with Della 