"Love does not envy" (1 Corinthians 13:4).
IDEA: Love is the cure for envy.
Paul tells us that love does not envy.
He does two things: he diagnoses the cause of envy and leads us in the direction of the cure.
If we love someone, we don’t envy that person. If we envy that person, we don’t love him/her.
Let’s be more specific: If someone is eaten up with envy, how can he or she handle it?
I. What doesn’t work:
You can’t overcome envy with willpower. We may decide to ignore the person, simply not to think about him or her. But it’s almost impossible not to think about the other person when it is in envy.
That will keep you from love because you’re acting as if the other person doesn’t exist.
II. What can we do?
We can take the Scriptures seriously.
“Laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:1-3).
Growth in the Christian life and in love always involves exposing ourselves to God as He is revealed in the Bible.
When we see God’s purpose in our lives, we can begin to see the littleness of envy.
We can pray for the person we envy, and sincerely pray for that person’s success.
We can praise the person that we envy to others. Determine that you’re not going to let malice rule your speech, but ask God for the grace to be positive.
It would be wise to ask, “What are the gifts God has given to ME,” and “Am I using them as I should?” One day all of us will give an account to God for the use of what He has given to us.