“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy…” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV).

In 1 Corinthians 13, after explaining that love is patient and kind, the Apostle Paul then goes on to list eight qualities that love is not. The first “anti-quality” of love is envy. Love does not envy.

We have probably all experienced envy. The range of the experience of envy is broad, from a light-hearted comment about wishing we had a new car like Tom’s, to a very bitter sense of envy that would cause us to allow harm to someone, such as the example in Genesis when Joseph’s brothers allowed him to be taken to Egypt as a slave because of their envy over his relationship with their father.

I know I used to experience envy very frequently, and still do sometimes if I am honest. I see someone with something I would like to have, or I see someone who has achieved something that I wish I could have achieved, and I wish it could be me. And thin people—well, I just don’t want to go there….

Besides the fact that envy is a waste of mental energy, makes us feel sorry for ourselves, and can drive us to some unhealthy behaviors, it is seen here as the opposite of love. Love does not envy. How can that be?

Envy is an unloving behavior because it is wishing for something that we don’t have, and for the most part implies that we wish that the other person did not have it. Even if we are not wishing ill of another person, it demonstrates discontent with our status which goes against the sovereignty of God. After all, envy is what put Jesus on the cross (Matthew 27:18).

Maybe it’s easier to see how unloving envy is if we look at the opposite of envy. What if we were genuinely happy with what others have or have achieved? Love means wanting the best for someone. What if we were content with what God has intended for our life. Loving God means realizing in his sovereignty that His plan is best. The Apostle Paul addressed this in Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV) –

“¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

What is the antidote for envy? Thankfulness. What should we do when the feeling of envy arises within us? We should thank God for what we have and for His blessings and providence, and then ask Him to give us a desire to love others as we love ourselves.

In Christ,

Judy