“Love is patient, love is kind. Love envies not; love flaunts
not itself and is not puffed up.” I
Corinthians 13:4
Love is a big idea. It is so big that it
could only come from God.
So love must me expressed in large yet simple
terms.
Week one I summarized the big ideas of love
being patient and kind this way – “Love
gets grief and gives grace.”
We two I will sum up the negative traits of
envy, boastfulness and arrogance in this phrase – “Love completes not competes”.
What do I mean by that?
Envy or jealousy is zealous to get what
others have and to guard what it thinks others want to take.
Boastfulness throws a parade for itself! It
flaunts and promotes itself above others.
Arrogance is the soil in which the seeds of
envy and boasting grow and bear fruit.
A heart that harbors envy, boastfulness and
arrogance has little room for love as great and pervasive as God’s love. Such
attitudes lead you to compare and compete with others. You measure your
self-worth and net worth in comparison to theirs. If you come out well in the
comparison you will feel superior and if you don’t you will feel threatened.
Take this story for example:
Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across
the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each
other's business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his
rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and
said, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your
competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich,
but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life?
You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?"
The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request:
Strike me blind in one eye!"
Those are the attitudes of envy, boastfulness and
arrogance in action. As you can see, there is nothing even remotely loving
about them. When you allow these attitudes to remain unchecked and you choose
not to deal with them you will end up in a similar state as this merchant. It
never ends well for those who live to compete and not complete.
Envy, boasting and arrogance are written into our
nature. It is what we have inherited from Adam and Eve. These were the
attitudes that led them astray. This “unholy trinity” is the cause of the
majority of sinful acts committed by those who have not discovered the “more
excellent way”. The presence of these attitudes denotes the absence of God’s
Perfect Love.
God called you and me to complete each other not
to compete against each other. He offers us a love that can so radically change
us that we will become as happy for the success and prosperity of others as we
would be for our own success!
Wow!
That’s hard! That’s a totally different spirit! It
would take a miracle for that to happen!
Exactly!