Envy is a temptation we all have to deal with. The people of God may wonder if a disciplined life is worth it when they look at the pleasures of those who reject and even mock God.

It's hard to watch people who live a lifestyle of luxury from ill-gotten gain. They have everything they ever want--palatial homes, luxury cars, expensive furniture, fine clothes, the latest sports equipment.

They never seem to have any trouble. Their lives seem so free from care. They have no burdens. They laugh off things that would bury us. It can really get to you. It makes you wonder if godliness is worthwhile.

That's what happened to Asaph. He wrote, "My feet had almost stumbled . . . . For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Ps. 73:2-3). But then Asaph went to the house of God, and his perspective was restored as he considered the final destiny of the wicked (v.17).

When you begin to envy the wealth of the ungodly and wish you could trade places with them, just remember where they are headed. In the world to come they will wish they could trade everything they ever had for just one moment of relief.  — David C. Egner