If someone asks me if I’m envious, I’ll immediately say no. I want other people to live well. I wish for other people to have and achieve and do what they want.

I’m sure your answer will be more or less the same.

But without us realising it, what others do determines our behaviour. In a way, other people’s clothes and cars, their positions in society, influence us, and we want what they have.

That’s how we’re made, and the smart people know how we think and act. That’s why stuff is arranged in the stores and on the internet so that we have to notice them, and when they catch our eye, we do everything to get our hands on them.

And if we can’t get our hands on the same thing or can’t look like someone else or have the same legs or arms as someone else, we get upset. And that’s exactly when envy enters through the front door. We just get bothered that the other person can have or get it, and we can’t.

I can hear some say they’re not like that, but keep an eye on where your dreams are being built. Envy is part of our normal makeup, and if we don’t recognise it, we won’t be able to get rid of it. Then there is a good chance it will pop up somewhere and hurt people.

You see, we’re made to look out for ourselves first. If there is a challenge in our way, if there is danger, we first run to safety before we help others. The self is so important.

Even if you’re on a plane and the flight staff go through the safety rules, they say that if the masks drop down, you should put the mask on yourself first and then on your child or another family member next to you.

We’re made to look after ourselves. We’re geared to protect ourselves, but if we do this at the expense of others, we become selfish, and then we take the oxygen first. And that’s not right. Then our way of life tells a different story than the one we say we believe.

¹⁷Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

Wow, these words are a bit too harsh for me. But let’s take a stand and be big enough to admit that sometimes we gossip about others and sometimes want things we don’t have. It kind of cuts off the love that I should have for others.

Let’s be content with how we look and with what we have. Let’s grant others their piece of light on earth and be happy for them. May we always speak the truth with our actions.

Scripture
James 3:13-18

Reflection
Do you sometimes do self-examination?
Do you see your own selfishness?
What can you do differently to focus more on others?

Prayer
Jesus, You came to earth for others, for other sinful people, to die on a cross for them. It’s the epitome of no selfishness. I want to be like that too. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.