Envy: Enemy of Fruitfulness

Jesus had a job for Peter to do. He had good works prepared for him to walk in (Eph 2:10), which included a martyr’s death. The Lord knew that if Peter envied John he would be distracted from what God had called him to do.

Envy not only robs us of peace; it hinders our fruitfulness.

If we try to peer onto other people’s paths, comparing and envying others, we’ll be sidetracked from the good works God wants us to walk in. We’ll fail to bring glory to our Savior.

We can’t envy and obey at the same time.

For example, if God has called to walk in good works as a single, but we are envying our friends who are married, we’ll be distracted from the ways God has called us to glorify Him in our singleness.

Or, if God has assigned to us to be married to a man who is not exercising leadership in the home and we are sinfully comparing ourselves with friends whose husbands effectively lead them, then we will be diverted from our task of bringing glory to God in our marriage.

Or if God has called us to use our gifts and abilities in a specific arena and yet we refuse to do so because our gifts are not as great or glamorous as another’s, we will fail to do God’s will.

Envy always eats up time and energy that should be spent on the good works God has prepared for us. When we envy others, we miss out on God’s grace to bear fruit today.