My sixth grader is memorizing a handful of the Western Catechisms right now. I have loved how these quick nuggets help engrain truth in his heart, mind and soul. The other day as I was choosing which one to do next I stumbled across Question 15 which asks “By what sin did our first parents fall from their original condition?”. The answer that follows is, “Our first parents’ sin was eating the forbidden fruit.” Is a fundamental truth given simply and effectively; however, this time I couldn’t help wondering “ but why?”. Why did Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit? I have heard some say blatant curiosity, others have said a desire for power, a few answered with something about believing the serpent’s lies. I think I would answer that it had something to do with envy.
A quick google search will show that envy is mentioned several times in scripture. It is an act of the flesh (Galatians 5:22), it causes work to be meaningless (Ecclesiastes 4:4), it makes us worldly (1 Corinthians 3:3), it is a root of disorder (James 3:16), it fills us with wickedness (Romans 1:29), and as Romans 13:13 tells us it is a blatant sin. Eve ate the apple because the serpent tempted her, because she was curious, because she lacked trust in God and I also believe because she envied Him. He had something she didn’t and she believed her life would be better off if she had it too.
We are constantly surrounded by the lie that while we have been given good things we are being left out from the really good.
How often do we find ourselves in these same spirals? We know comparison is the thief of joy and yet we don’t flee it as if it was the very beginning of our sin spiral. We say we are content with the home we have been given but that doesn’t stop us from watching endless videos of others’ more beautiful homes until ours no longer feel like enough. We are constantly surrounded by the lie that while we have been given good things we are being left out from the really good. We fall into the temptation of envying another while fully believing that what is being withheld from us must be the very thing that will actually satisfy us. We fool ourselves into thinking that God surely must not have meant to withhold it; and so we try to obtain it. Friends, we eat the “apple”. We eat the apple and we learn the same redundant lesson that Eve did. A gift not meant for us, will never satisfy us.
Living life among believers was never meant to be a competition, but a very purposed plan from a very purposeful Father. Our friend’s victory has everything to do with what God is doing in and through them and says absolutely nothing about what He isn’t doing for and through us. In fact, God’s word assures us in Philippians 4:19 that He will supply us with everything we need and if He hasn’t given it to us; we don’t need it. Yet, how often instead of trusting in the One who created us we question if He is holding out on us.
Living life among believers was never meant to be a competition, but a very purposed plan from a very purposeful Father.
When our friend gets the job we also applied for, that is what God has for them and it wasn’t what we needed. When my sister had a baby girl, it was what God had for her and it wasn’t what I needed. When your classmate won the debate, it was what the Lord used in her life and it wasn’t a victory the Lord thought you needed. How freeing it would be to be able to say “I am so glad Betty got the leadership role, it is clearly what the Lord has for her and therefore it wasn’t for me. I can’t wait to see what He does have in store for me.” The joy, the peace and the freedom found in such a simple practice is life changing, because when we are able to separate ourselves we spare ourselves. We stop questioning why He is withholding. We stop striving in our own power to get what we think we need; what He has given to another. We trade in the sin spiral of our flesh and see God for who He is; a good God who has given to us generously both on the cross and in our lives.