...Love Does Not Envy or Boast

Love does not envy or boast. We live in a world filled with envy and boastfulness. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, All toil and skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. That is a rather profound thought! Why do we call this a "dog eat dog" world? Envy is at the root of success! We fight with all of our being for that promotion, but is it really only the increase in salary that we are after? The increase in salary is nice, but being raised up in the eyes of our fellow workers is even nicer! 1 John tells us to guard our hearts because our hearts deceive us; it is important that we examine our hearts before the
Lord. Envy is natural to us; meekness is not! Boasting is really the flip side of envy; we envy others and we boast about ourselves. In the end, does it really matter what anyone thinks of us apart from God? Remember those school days? Oh how important it was to be in the "in" crowd. Our whole school life seemed to revolve around our "place" in the pecking order. Then what happened when you moved on - went to college or started a job? Suddenly all of those school labels meant nothing now. I really like 2 Corinthians 12:9; there is a circumstance where we really are allowed to boast! Paul said, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Our weakness, our smallness, our frailty all bring glory to God. Remember our chief purpose? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever! (Westminster Shorter Catechism) We are not here to bring honor or glory to our name; we only do good by the hand of God. Our boasting, therefore, should only be boasting in Christ. God is love; love does not envy or boast! Pray today that God will keep you from envy or boasting, but will instead cause you to glorify God.