This is Part 5 of my series "The Terrain of the Seven Deadly Sins". I've already discussed Pride, Lust, Slothfulness, and Wrath. Here I will address Envy and it's counterpart, "External Provision". Then in Part 6 and 7 I will address Gluttony and Greed. After that, I will start to put some of the pieces together because it all forms one big terrain and map. And as a reminded, everything in this description is metaphorical. It is a picture, a concrete object that represents the issues we deal with in regards to the Seven Deadly Sins and what they corrupt of God's original creation.
Envy is closely associated with coveting. It is seeing something that someone else has and desiring that something as though it is your right to have it. The common cliche that is well associated to this behavior is "the grass is always greener on the other side". Envy is not being satisfied with what God has provided you and it is effectively saying "You aren't giving me enough." What this attitude actually says is "God, you aren't giving me what I want." There is a big difference between our wants and our needs. God promises to provide what we need, and that often is less than what we want. What we need goes beyond just food, clothing, and shelter. It includes everything we need to do the job God wants us to do. For some that includes some wealth and means of transportation. For others it may mean getting by on what we have. Now before I go further, I want to clarify that the poorest of the poor, the homeless, etc, are not necessarily that was because God wants them that way. God providing and our means of using what he provides are not always the same thing too. If God gives us a job, it is our responsibility to work that job. And if we don't have a job, it is our responsibility to go do something to be productive with our time. So there is one issue of God's provision and our responsibility to manage them. But there is the other issue of seeing God provide for someone else or seeing someone else manage their resources for pleasure rather than God's intention that will get us into trouble. Envy is not being satisfied with what God has provided for us externally and wanted something more. Envy does not deal with internal issues. That is reserved for Gluttony.
So what type of terrain would display this scenario where we must be content with what we have or be envious of what others have, or envious of what we don't have? The issues brought up here are well illustrated in the Parable of the Talents where one servant was given five talents, another two, and another one, each in accordance to their ability. That is an important phrase that is often forgotten: "in accordance to their ability". Someone who is given five talents is expected to be able to manage and use five talents. Someone who only has one talent, is only responsible for that one talent. But we often think "if only we had more talents, we could do more with it", failing to understand that if we had more talents we would be responsible for those extra talents. We are not called to get extra talents just to use one. The servant who had five talents would be questioned differently if he only used four of those five talents. He is expected to use all five, not just two, three, or four of them. And likewise, the servant who only has one was only expected to use that one. And all in accordance to their abilities. God gave us each skills and abilities for a particular set of tasks and some tasks requires only a certain set of talents. And too often, instead of trying to use the talents we have, we look at other's talents and we become envious of them.
The terrain that best describes this type of setting is a arid farmland. It is not a lush, overabundant farmland where hardly any work needs to be done for it to produce. It produces precisely what you need. The land is rich enough to provide sod to build a sod house, it is watered enough to grow the crops, but not in overabundance where you can go several seasons without planting. It is just enough to get you by day to day so you can plant and harvest in the next season. You have sufficient cattle and herds to provide you with clothes, meat, milk, etc. This terrain teaches you to depend on the provision God has for you. It is a lesson I have learned growing up. I recall a six-month period when I was between 12-15 (ish) when all my family had to eat was day-old bagels, yogurt, and eggs. It wasn't much. But it got us by. We had bagels served in more way that we would like to imagine and it was still 'better' than what the Israelites had with Manna. The difference? We had different flavors. It was enough, but God provided. And though we had the opportunity, we did not envy those who had full fridges and pantries next door to us. We could have, but we didn't, because we chose to rely on the Lord providing for us.
Envy rears its ugly head with neighbors who produce more lush fields. The problem is that we want that excess for ourselves and don't understand that God intended that excess to be given away. Any excess we get is not meant to be spent on ourselves, but to provide for those who do not have means of getting their needs met. But envy does not come just in the form of a better crop or more cattle and stock. It can come in the form of a better house. If you are living in a sod house, and you see someone in a mansion, it may be hard to avoid being envious. But what if that person also had a sod house, just in a different size or shape, or layout? I have heard stories of people being envious of a simple think like a porch roof over their front door. The grass is always greener on the other side.
But Envy has a reverse effect as well. I was describing the not-so-wealthy being envious of the wealthy. But the reverse also has the same effect. What if the wealthy person did not like having the over abundant provision to aid the poor and would rather bury his talents instead of using them? Is it not possible for the rich to be envious of the poor because they would prefer a simpler lifestyle? One could answer, "Yes, but they could simply downsize and give away their resources." If one has a mind-set of God's provision and being generous, yes. But envy is self-focused. Envy won't release the resources it has because it is thinking of that rainy day occasion. Envy may want to live simpler but can't. This can quickly overlap with Pride/Shame.
We may live in a not so comfortable region with the not so best co-workers or neighbors, and we may not have all the resources or toys we would like to have. If we trust in God's provision, he will give us all we need and as along as we align our desires to his desires, he will give us the desires of our heart. But Envy will always seek what we think is the better situation instead of taking advantage of the resources we already have. Envy focuses on the resources we don't have and as a result, we will miss what we do have. Envy has a partner in crime as well: the Devourer. If we serve money (for example) far greater riches will only go half the distance they should than smaller riches. And I can attest to this myself. In my family, I know we have way more money going out on expenditures, bills, and giving, than we have coming in. It's a significant more going out than coming in. Yet the bills are always paid for on time. I'm a math person and I know this is numerically impossible. So we call it God math because he is providing for us where in the natural we would not have it. But Envy's partner is a Devourer and twice the resources will only go half the distance if we let Envy rule our terrain.
Next post will be on the Deadly Sin: Gluttony and its contrast to Internal Satisfaction.
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