Jealousy of Friends
Handling Envy
Q. I don’t have much money or family and I feel jealous of those who do. Added to that, a rich friend of mine makes negative comments about people who are poor, and repeatedly brags over her family outings and expensive trips. It makes me feel so left out. Any thoughts or advice?
Answer:
Sometimes Christians are thoughtless and clueless concerning how it feels to be struggling over finances and loneliness. Shame on them!
On the other hand, God wants us to be grateful for and work with what we do have – even in the face of adversity.
Uniquely Responsible to God
Paul reminds us to “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct” (Galatians 6:4-5, NLT).
That’s good advice.
Bloom where you are Planted
Rather than focus on your loneliness and comparative poverty, remember that God has a job for each of us to do starting right where we are. That’s what pastors mean when they say, “Bloom where you are planted.”
Paul taught us that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
I imagine there are other people who feel just like you. But, who would minister to them if we were all rich and connected with family? They need people like you or me who can identify with their emotional state.
We are Comforted to Comfort
Paul teaches us that God “comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:4).
In other words, sometimes trials occur so that we can help others like us. God helps us so we can help them.
Much is Expected of those who Have Much
Besides, much more is expected of people who are blessed with money, position, talents and other things. Jesus tell us,
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required – and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more” (Luke 12:48, NASB).
In conclusion it doesn’t really matter what’s going on with others, their possessions or their relationships. What does matter is what you or I do with what we are given. The apostle Peter advises us to “rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (1 Peter 2:1).
God Made You Unique
Remember that God knew you and planned your life before you were even born!
“For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother’s womb…Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (Psalm 139: 13, 16, NASB).
If God loves each of us this much, why should we complain and feel jealousy of others?