For all of the harm they do, maybe we should post their likeness, aliases, descriptions, and modes of operation on public bulletin boards.
The 3rd usually goes by the name of “jealousy”. It’s been described as a possessive fear of losing something that we think belongs to us. God can handle the emotion in a loving protective way (Exodus 34:14). But it can turn us into a beast.
The 1st and 2nd are twins. “Covetousness” is a consuming desire for what does not belong to us. “Envy” is the ill will and bad blood we feel toward those who have been given something that has been withheld from us.
The story of these 2, and maybe all 3, is filled with murder and mayhem. 2 of them, maybe all 3, seem to be older than the earth. If not, they certainly show up in the Garden when our first parents ended up losing everything by wanting what God had wisely withheld from them.
Later 2 show up in the children. The older covets something the Lord has given his younger brother. God reasons with him. Shows him that he really doesn’t need to feel deprived (Gen 4:6-7). But envy erupts into an argument, followed by a fight and a homicide.
After the death of the younger brother… two of the killers, and maybe three….keep showing up all of the way through the story of the Bible. I’m amazed at how often the stories of the men and women of the Bible turn around plots and subplots of envy, covetousness, and jealousy. Eventually, the 2, maybe 3, even go so far as to prompt a group of religious leaders to call for the execution of Jesus (Matt 27:18).
Who can deny the role they will play in the new round of “Peace Talks” scheduled to begin in Washington in a couple of weeks. It’s hard to say that either side is not being consumed by the 2, maybe 3, each at the expense of wisdom– and the other (James 3:13-18).
What really has me thinking though is that these two, maybe three, are not our real problem. Neither can we afford to see them as moral dangers to which we must “just say no”.
As James shows us in the third and fourth chapters of his New Testament letter, envy (3:13-16) and covetousness (James 4:1-3), can signal issues between ourselves and “the Giver of every good gift” (1:17). For as long as our struggle keeps us from finding our faith, hope, and love in him today, we will be vulnerable to these 2 and maybe 3 predator emotions.
This is not to imply a neat and clean, painless solution. The Bible does not say that life in its present condition is fair. Nowhere will we read that the chaos and mayhem in and around us are to be taken without a sense of grief and groaning (Rom 8:22-23).
But what if we asked our God to use even the hint of envy and covetousness as a helpful reminder of our struggle to trust him?
As the Apostle Paul’s own story suggests (Rom 7:7), seeing the presence of these 2, and maybe 3, could help us see our need to renew our confidence in the One who says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
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