If only - Hope 103.2

If only

By David ReayMonday 10 Feb 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes

Transcript:

Read Proverbs 14:30

A heart at peace gives life to the body,
but envy rots the bones. (NIV)

Other people seem to get all the breaks. Their investments do well; their homes are immaculate; their children achieve success; their diseases get healed; their jobs are satisfying; their friends are numerous.

Or so it seems. We can spend a lot of time feeling sorry for ourselves that others are doing better than us. There are a few problems with this. One is that we might be measuring success in wrong terms. Success in life is more to do with letting God help us in our weakness than with flexing our own muscles and attaining what the world sees as success.

Another problem is that those we envy might not be as well-off as we think. Behind the glittering exterior there might be myriad problems and private heartache. There are only two types of people in this world: those who struggle and don’t hide it,and those who struggle and who do try to hide it.

A third problem is that such envy blinds us to what God is doing in our own lives. We cease to be thankful for what we have because we are busily coveting what others have. Which is why this biblical text reminds us that envy rots away our inner selves. We have no peace because we have no contentment. Comparison is the death of true contentment.

Blessings
David Reay