I want your life

“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” (Proverbs 23:17-18)

I wish I had their house. I wish I drove that car. I wish I could go on a vacation like that. I wish I grew up with parents like that. I wish my boss were more like that. I wish my spouse were more like that. I wish I had a spouse. I wish I looked like her. I wish I had his life.

“Do not let your heart envy sinners,” the writer of Proverbs tells us in chapter 23, verse 17. Maybe you read through that first paragraph and did not resonate with any of those wishes, but more than likely, you have said one or more of those things, maybe even today. To envy someone is to notice something that is good about someone else, but instead of rejoicing over the good they have, you weep over the fact that you don’t have it (Facebook, anyone?).

In Proverbs 14:30, the writer of Proverbs notes that “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Envy is toxic to our body and soul. It fills us with self-pity, sucking the joy out of our lives and poisoning our ability to enjoy the life we’ve been given, because it doesn’t compare to what someone else has. All of the other seven deadly sins contain some element of fun – sloth, lust, wrath, greed, pride, and gluttony all give some pleasure. But envy is no fun at all.

Harboring envy in our hearts affects our ability to live wisely, as we make decisions out of our desire to have what others have. Consider Ecclesiastes 4:4: “And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” When you make decisions out of envy, out of a desire to have what someone else has, you are acting in foolishness.

So what do we do about our problem with envy? The writer of Proverbs tells us in 23:17 to be zealous for the fear of the Lord, and to remember that there is surely a future hope for us that will not be cut off. In Proverbs 19:23, he also writes: “The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” Contentment with the life we’ve been given comes from living in the fear of the Lord – not being afraid of God, but to revere God for who He truly is, making knowing and serving Him our foremost desire. When we desire Him more than we desire fame, money, power, looks, or anything else, we will find ourselves envying others less.

Just as importantly, envy comes from remembering the hope that lies before us. I think that envy often comes from feeling like we only get to live once, and we got stuck with bad parents, or a bad spouse, or a bad job, or a bad body. We despair at the hand we’ve been dealt and wish we could trade it for what someone else has. But the Bible reminds us that all the good things our heart desires will be ours one day, forever. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This life is not all that there is. One day we will be the bride of Christ, the spouse who surpasses even the greatest earthly spouse. One day we will have the perfect resurrection body. One day we will have the perfect family, and live in the perfect city. And one day we will reign with God in the perfect job, over the new heaven and new earth. Make no mistake – the real thing your heart desires is not that other job, or that other spouse, or that other body. Even if you got all those things, you would eventually end up envying someone else. The real thing your heart desires is God Himself, for all eternity. And He will be yours forever. Let that reality bring you contentment in where God has you today.