Envy

Last week I read the book "Envy; The Enemy Within" by Bob Sorge. Pretty good-- for certain folks (I will tell you who in a minute). It is a pretty convicting book and I appreciated the use of scripture throughout.

Here are some of the concepts in the book that spoke to me:

• Everyone is impacted by envy in two ways. You are envious of others who have been selected for honor or success that seems greater than yours. You are an object of the envy of others. The author asserts that BOTH scenarios are true for all of us to one degree or another or at one time or another. All are guilty.
• One major concept of the book was this: In the bible God often dealt with envy by crucifying the one selected for honor. He took time to use Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Job's brothers, David and his brothers, the two Kingdoms of Israel and the Apostle Paul as examples of this concept. He suggested that the pain and struggle of the envied one places compassion and love in the heart of the envious one. While I saw the validity of the point and the truth in the examples he used (inarguably, this happened), I think that the author did a poor job of dealing with how the envious one takes responsibility for themselves. If I envy you, the problem is in me!! And I need to ask the Lord to help ME deal with it. Having something bad happen to you cannot be the only remedy. He did not deal with this enough. If you are envious, you are off scott free.
• Sorge took time in the book to unpack the parable of the talents...explaining that we all have been given different levels of talents to steward. He also explained a concept surrounding the different "measures of grace" that we have all been given (I Corinthians 15:10).
• In the final chapters of the book, he shares profound lessons about envy from the book of Obadiah...a book all about the envy between Israel and Edom. It was extremely powerful teaching. It would be an awesome sermon series! I will post a blog specifically capturing some of this soon.

Read this book IF...

• You can honestly admit that envy is a sin or tendency in your life.
• You feel like people are hating on you/envious of you often.
• Find yourself wondering why other people have it so much better than you.