A Thought For The Week Of September 10

"Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Galatians 5:26) Why would we envy each other? The question is a good one. It's true that sometimes we look around and lament that others seem to have things that we don't: they have more money, or a bigger house or a nicer car. Even among pastors, there can sometimes be envy over who has the bigger and more outwardly successful church. Envy is a strange thing. We want what someone else has, even though we really don't need it. Understand that. When a person who's starving wishes they had more food, they're not being envious; they're desperate, and those of us with enough food should help them out. But when we just want more and more of the things we already have enough of or that we don't really need, then do we really have our priorities straight? The problem with envy (one problem anyway) is that it makes us focus so much on our wants that we can easily miss out on the needs of others. But Jesus wants us to focus on the needs of others, and to try to satisfy those needs, not to worry about what someone else has that we don't really need. I think that's one reason Paul wrote those words. When either conceit or envy become a characteristic of our lives, we've abandoned the gospel, and we're no longer living either by the Spirit or for Christ. To live by the Spirit is to live for Christ, which is to live for others. If enough people could do that, the world would be a better place. Have a great week!