Envy and Jealousy

Envy is when we want something someone else has.

Jealousy is when we have something and do not want someone else to have it or someone else has something we want and are angry they have it and we do not.

God speaks against both these sins.

We all see something someone else has and think it would work well for us too, so we ask where we can get one of those, this is not sinful envy. I often glean ideas for my household from how someone else is doing something that works for them.

Gleaning ideas from how others do things is just smart to make our lives work better or are more pleasant. This is why we look at home and garden magazines to find ideas.

Someone who is not competitive will be happy to share how they did something or where they got something so that others will be blessed too.

I remember a woman who was asked to share her recipe with another woman. The woman with the recipe made it clear that she always leaves out an ingredient when sharing a recipe so that no one else will be able to make the dish as delicious as she does.

It was laughable because when the woman with the recipe asked someone else for theirs she made sure they do not leave anything out so that she can make it as good as they made it. A little hypocrisy going on there.

When we love people we want to share our things and ideas with them. We are flattered that they like our ideas so much that they want to use them too. A loving person does not care about being elevated above others, they just want to bless them.

Matthew 12:11-12 "…11So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets."

However, a narcissist will steal the ideas of others and claim the idea came from them. They hate to give others credit while driven to be seen as the one with the idea.

Narcissists will also watch what other accomplished people do and try to do it themselves only better. They hate it when someone else does something they cannot or will not do.

When the narcissist sees their target accomplishing something they will ignore it completely so as not to encourage them, or they will criticize it as a useless accomplishment.

When we walk with Christ we have no desire to be superior to anyone else, we are just content to do what we do the best we can. If we compete it is with ourselves to do better than we did before. We are happy for others who do well because we are not competing with anyone else.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

"11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

God commended the Thessalonian believers for helping one another be the best they can be through truth, companionship and helps.