Don't Let Envy Poison Your Soul
It may be the culturally acceptable sin, both inside and outside the church. But it's a killer.
This week, social media has been filled with condemnations of Elon Musk, who became the world’s first trillionaire. I won’t include them here, but you don’t have to spend too much time on your timeline to find public officials, activists, and ordinary folks indignant that the eccentric inventor has so much net worth. Some have even gone so far as to say that billionaires and trillionaires shouldn’t be allowed to be so rich.
I’m not in favor of that economic and social policy. I think the massive redistribution of wealth through socialism or its crazy cousin, communism, rather than lifting the poor as it claims, only leads to misery and more poverty. Capitalism isn’t a perfect system, and unless it is guided by a foundation of virtue (and I’d argue, Christianity), it can and often does have large pockets of injustice. Still, it’s a preferred alternative to the discredited, failed statist policies mentioned above. Faithful Christians, of course, will debate the finer points of where the lines between the free market and the government should stop and start, and the size of the social safety net. But that’s actually not why I’m writing this newsletter.
Underneath the anger at billionaires is a sin as old as time: envy. This isn’t to say that people at the top of the food chain don’t often get special perks or shortcuts that can be unfair. But in today’s modern culture, we have been conditioned to nurture envy at anyone who is perceived to be ahead of us on the career, economic, or social ladder. Envy is at the heart of our politics on all sides. Envy fuels the marketing machines. Just watch the ads. Someone owns a product/gadget/service that is making them happy, and you don’t have it. That’s not right, we are told to tell ourselves, I must have it.
This sentiment is even nurtured in some places in the church. I’m convinced that many of our online fights and disputes are not actually fights and disputes about the actual issues, but underneath, there is a latent envy. James says so much:
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).
James isn’t saying that all conflict among Christians is rooted in envy. The New Testament is filled with instructions toward courage. Paul told young Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Jude urges believers to “Contend for the faith delivered to the saints once and for all” (Jude 1:3).
Yet notice Paul says, “fight the good fight of faith.” Not all fights are good fights. I talk a bit about that in other places. I’m convinced that most of our conflicts, especially the online ones, are James 4:1 fights masquerading as Jude 1:3 fights.
Envy is at the heart of our disagreements. Somebody got a position we wanted, but didn’t get. Somebody was given a speaking slot we coveted. Somebody’s work has gone viral in ways we wish would happen to ours. So instead of “rejoicing with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15), we find ways to disqualify that person. We hint that they got the job because of connections we don’t have (as if we’d resist those connections if offered to us). We tear down their character by insinuating they are not as faithful to the truth as we are. We position ourselves as the better alternative.
Envy is an insidious temptation from the enemy. It’s how the serpent convinced Eve to rebel against God. He’s holding out on you. You deserve more. What you have is not enough. This isn’t right.
Envy comes for all of us. We have to fight it every day. No matter how much success you have in ministry, in the marketplace, or in society, you will always be able to look around and see someone doing better than you. Another family at church or school will have a nicer car and a vacation home while you struggle with multiple side-hustles to make it all work. Another peer will get a promotion or acclaim that you feel you should get. Another businessman will be offered deals that didn’t come your way.
If we are not careful, if we are not intentional about fighting envy, it will eat away at our souls like poison. In my morning reading right now, I’m reading about King Saul’s downward spiral in 1 Samuel. If you were to ask him when the prophet first came to his home and anointed him as Israel’s first king, if he could envision trying to kill a young shepherd boy named David, and try to kill his own son, he’d tell you that you were crazy. Yet this is what envy did to him. Though Saul had many accomplishments, people were praising this young Son of Jesse for his accomplishments. Rather than rejoice in what God had given him, Saul couldn’t stand to see others praised. That was glory he wanted for himself. Sadly, this envy poisoned his soul. It splashed out into every relationship he had, as it often does. He colored his view of the world.
So what is the antidote for envy? Gratitude. When I was a kid, we sang this hymn in church:
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Regularly, intentionally, and prayerfully, we must look around and take stock of what God has done for us. I have made this a habit in recent years as a bulwark against the persistent creep of envy. God has been good to me and has given me more than I deserve. I have blessings in my life that others likely envy. Yet I am tempted to look around me and those who might have more money, higher positions, or (seemingly) less trouble, and convince myself I’m being cheated by God. Got to count those blessings. And, instead of being mad when someone else is blessed, be intentional about congratulating them and being truly happy for their success.
To live this way is counter-cultural. Envy today is encouraged, even monetized, on social media platforms. Grievance is the coin of the realm in politics, in business, and sadly, among Christians. But we who have been redeemed by God and adopted as his children, who are given life and breath by the Creator, who look forward to that New Jerusalem with no crying and pain and suffering—we should be the most resistant to the poison of envy.
This is also why I love singing the chorus at church:
All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
Sing it when you are down. Sing it when you are up. Sing it when the bank account is full. Sing it when you are scraping for cash. Sing it when you get that job offer or speaking engagement, or book contract. Sing it when those things don’t come your way.
Some Writing Updates:
The Dispatch asked me to write about the difference between traditional Christians and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
World published my latest column, this time on the 60th anniversary of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. It’s a reminder of the cruelty of communism.
The popular Room for Nuance podcast posted my conversation with the host, Sean Demars. It’s a wide-ranging interview on patriotism, political theology, American exceptionalism, and other topics. I enjoyed recording this in Huntsville late last fall with Sean and his crew.
Project Updates:
Last week I, along with 20,000 of my closest friends, attended the Southern Baptist Convention. I went as a representative of Southwestern Seminary but also as a messenger from Travis Avenue Baptist Church. I did a book signing at the SWBTS booth for Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Life, which also sold out at the Lifeway bookstore in the exhibit hall. I also spoke at ERLC’s One Nation Under God Event on themes from my book, In Defense of Christian Patriotism. My friend Nathan Finn has a great recap of the convention here.
I’m working this summer on several projects, including an article for Logos on patriotism, one for The Brink magazine on our modern tendency toward catastrophism (thinking the world is ending with every news story), my Christmas book for Moody, and a study Bible project for Thomas Nelson.
> Underneath the anger at billionaires is a sin as old as time: envy.
I think it's kind of silly to make such a general claim as this. I'm not a fan of billionaires because I think it is unjust that they tend to build their wealth by exploiting people. I also think that the fact that people have billions while a significant population can barely afford three healthy meals in a day is a sign of a failing society.
To reduce this to "envy" is quite obtuse. There's no part of me that desires that amount of wealth. Anger at billionaires is often an expression of anger at injustice, which is biblical.
Envy is a serious problem Christians face and it's worth writing about, but to make such a specious claim—which just reads as a dig against those you disagree with politically—waters down your argument and does your article no favours.