Do Not Envy, at All

I am reading this morning in Proverbs about “envy” and will say that at first reading, I am a bit confused with the below passage.

“³¹Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, ³²for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence.” — Proverbs 3:31-32 (ESV)

You see, when I look at this passage I see that I am not to envy the violent and devious, and in the next part there is reference to the upright. Am I to envy them instead.

Where I know that the answer to the last sentence is NO, I cannot help wondering what someone that only sees this passage would say or think or act on. I know that envy is one of the seven deadly sins, but do others. I know that we should not envy at all, but is that the teachings that are coming from the world I have to ask.

This is a great case for the study of God’s word and not just His words. God’s word is bigger than just the few words found in this passage. In fact, in my concordance there are five passages that I will be studying on the subject of envy. There are countless others that are not in the concordance that should be studied as well (ex. The parable of the prodigal son).

When I look into the sin of envy, there is a lot that is encompassed therein. The passage this morning discusses not to envy violence and deviousness. I have to remember that this is not the only. It is envy that should be focused on, not that which is being envied. It is the envy that leads to the destruction, not the violence and deceit. Yes, violence and deceit are not to be tolerated, but with our focus on avoiding envy, those will be snubbed out.

Envy is that which will drive to other actions. It starts with comparison and then moves to want and then to desire and then to taking actions to obtain and then comes the “at all costs” part which is where violence and deceit come in. I have to avoid the root cause of the violence and deceit and that is envy. I have to demonstrate my content with that which is part of my life and know that what others have or obtain is for them and not for me at that time and then celebrate with them in earnest. My receipt of such things may not be in the plan for me from God and I have recognize that my work for God is of most importance. I have to root out all envy in my life.

What do you have in your life that may have begun with envy? Did you obtain those at all cost? What if you would have simply been content with what you had and sought after pleasing God and removed all envy from your life?