Meditations on “Love Does Not Envy”

What is envy? The dictionary defines it as “a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.” It is one of those “little sins” that can be so devastating, because we don’t realize we’re envious. We tend to excuse it as ambition or desire.

Envy is different from covetousness. If I covet my neighbor’s car, I may take steps to obtain it for my own. If I am envious that he has it, I am unhappy and resentful that he has it. I think it’s often linked to feeling that he doesn’t deserve to have it.

I think that one area envy occurs is when Christians look at other people in the church and say, “I wish I had their life. They don’t have any problems, or if they do, they don’t compare to the problems I have.” For this reason, I think that envy often occurs more in casual relationships than in close friendships. The more that we get to know someone, the more we see the truth.

Thus, one of the evils of envy is that it poisons incipient relationships. If I see my neighbor’s life of ease and feel envy, believing that he does not deserve such, will I make an effort to reach out to him? Probably not.

In the end, then, love does not envy because love is always reaching out, seeking the other person’s good. Envy is self-centered, rejecting the other person's good.

--DJ